


Firefly/Doctor Who Crossover: Lending a Hand

by Goldy, hjea



Category: Doctor Who (2005), Firefly
Genre: Crack, Crossover, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-02-11
Updated: 2013-07-23
Packaged: 2017-12-21 02:05:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 25,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/894520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Goldy/pseuds/Goldy, https://archiveofourown.org/users/hjea/pseuds/hjea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Wherever they’d ended up, it was <i>definitely</i> not Sihnon.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Title** : Lending a Hand  
 **Authors** : [](http://goldy-dollar.livejournal.com/profile)[**goldy_dollar**](http://goldy-dollar.livejournal.com/) and [](http://hjea.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://hjea.livejournal.com/)**hjea**  
 **Characters/Pairings** : Tenth Doctor, Rose, implied Ten/Rose, _Firefly_ crew with Mal/Inara and other canon pairings.  
 **Disclaimer** : We don’t own DW and/or Firefly. But we do secretly think that RTD is the evil genius offspring of Joss Whedon.  
 **Spoilers/Timeline** : Doctor Who: Post- _Fear Her_ , pre- _AoG/Doomsday_ , Firefly: post- _Serenity_  
 **Summary** : Wherever they’d ended up, it was _definitely_ not Sihnon.  
 **Rating** : PG13  
 **Words** : 2, 020  


**Chapter One**

The Doctor busily stuffed the last of his sandwich into his mouth while simultaneously piloting the TARDIS and explaining their impending destination to Rose. In his estimation, such a miraculous ability to multitask was no easy feat.

“Five-hundred years in your future, your earth’s used up, and you lot are left with no choice but to move out into space. You terraform new planets, build yourselves ships and new technologies.” He swallowed the last bit of the sandwich, and continued. “The human race, moving out into space for the very first time, and you stumble, you make mistakes, you fight war, but here you are, doing it, things you never would’ve even dreamed about.”

Rose’s impressed gaze was rudely cut off by a particularly violent landing, and she focused most of her attention on hanging on for dear life.

Well. He couldn’t always be perfect.

A few bumps later, the TARDIS settled herself out, and Rose leaned forward, resting her head on the console and breathing in heavily. “So… where are we, then?”

“Sihnon, the very _height_ of civilization, the very _example_ of culture and unity and really _excellent_ health services. You know they’ve cut their wait times down to thirty seconds? Thirty seconds. Like to see your parliament accomplish that.”

“Oh, god, not cats again,” Rose said, picking her head up, and smoothing out her shirt.

“Nope,” the Doctor said, holding out a hand. “Haven’t discovered alien planets yet. Oh, there are _sightings_ , of course, but the government’s busy trying to keep it all hush, hush. Universe has enough unity troubles as it is. We ready, then?”

Her fingers curled around his, and she gave him a cheeky grin. “Always.”

He grinned at her in a particularly stupid sort of way, and she had to tug him out the door, rolling her eyes.

“Right,” he said. “Sihnon—small planet, millions of people, at the center of the new universe, under Alliance control—what?”

Rose stood very still in the TARDIS’s entrance, and the Doctor poked his head around her.

“Oh, well… right,” he said. “This can’t be good.”

“Are we even…” Rose whispered. “Where _are_ we?”

“Well, not Sihnon, at any rate,” the Doctor said. He stepped forward, relieved when he landed on solid ground. Wherever they were, it was dark, and smelled disconcertingly like ash. “It’s a space ship.”

“We’re in space?” Rose said, coming up behind him.

“Not in space, no,” the Doctor said, bending down, squinting at the ground. He traced one hand along the floor. “Can’t hear the engine.”

“So it crashed then, yeah?” Rose said, hovering over him.

“Recently too, judging by the smell,” he said. “Floor’s still warm.”

He stood, narrowed eyes scanning the cargo bay. “Ahh, it’s a Firefly-class!” he said, moving around and opening side paneling, peering in. “But that’s brilliant. Like a steady piece of rock, these are. Always wanted to travel in a Firefly. Known to last for centuries.”

“Well, it’s not going anywhere at the moment,” Rose mumbled.

“Used for smuggling and the like,” the Doctor said. “Isn’t that something? Yesterday I’m part of a child’s drawing, today we’re living under the law, on the run—fugitives.”

“Yeah, that doesn’t sound too good,” Rose said. “Doctor, there’s gotta be people who were onboard when it crashed. People who could be using our help.”

The Doctor pressed his ear to the floor. “There she is,” he said. “You haven’t given in yet, have you, girl? Just need a bit of a kick to get yourself turning again...”

“Uh, Doctor, you might want to—”

Rose’s voice was followed by the distinct click of a gun. The Doctor sprang up, shoving hands in his pockets, and coming nose to nose with three armed people.

“Right,” he said. “Hello.”

Rose blew out a breath through her nose, and gave him a look that clearly told him he was supposed to do a little more than that.

The guns, unfortunately, did not disappear.

The three figures were torn and dirtied, but there was a sharpness about them. The leader stood motionless in front of the, blue eyes sweeping quickly over Rose and the Doctor and lingering on the TARDIS. If he was surprised, he didn’t show it.

“You’d best be takin’ your hand out of your pockets, nice and slow,” he finally said. “And then you’re going to tell me what you’re doing on my boat.”

The Doctor raised his hands in the air, shifting his eyes slightly over to Rose to tell her to follow his lead.

“And right you are to be concerned. Strangers like us, milling about, bound to raise suspicions,” the Doctor said, eyes ticking from one gun to the next. Sonic screwdriver could do a lot of things; stopping gunfire was not one of them. “Well, we were just… in the neighbourhood…”

“Distress signal!” Rose blurted. “You sent one up before you crashed, yeah? Well, that’s what we’re doing. Just here to answer it.” She paused, and then added, “To help.”

Rose. Bless.

Rose’s sincerity had the desired effect, and there was a brief hesitation before the gang lowered their weapons.

“This wasn’t personal, you understand. You folk look reputable enough, but I ain’t in a position to be putting my crew’s life on the line just ‘cause you look trustworthy.”

“Seems like what we’re best at, Captain,” said the hulking man behind him.

The Captain’s eyes measured a vague tick of annoyance, but he otherwise ignored the comment.

“Honestly,” the Doctor said. “We just want to help.”

The Captain acknowledged that with a slight tilt of his head. “As you can see, we’re not exactly in a position to be turning down assistance. I’m Captain Reynolds, this is Zoe, my first mate, and Jayne… well, he ain’t so bad when he’s not talking.”

The Doctor reached out a hand, slowly withdrawing it when he was met with an unflinching stare. “Right,” he said, clearing his throat. “I’m the Doctor, and this is—”

“Doctor?” Zoe interrupted coolly. “A doctor of what, exactly?”

“Just Doctor. The Doctor.”

They blinked. The Captain scratched at his chin, but it was Jayne who held up a hand. “Now, see, we’ve already go ourselves one of those,” he said. “Can we space ‘em now, Captain?”

“We’re not in space, Jayne,” the Captain said tiredly. He nodded at the Doctor to continue.

“This is Rose Tyler, my companion—”

“Companion?” the Captain interrupted, and rather suspiciously, in the Doctor’s opinion.

“Right,” he mumbled to himself. “Twenty-five hundred B.C.—the Alliance _Guild_ , of course—” The Doctor caught Rose’s eye, and hastened to explain. “Well, when I say ‘companion,’ I mean more of a friend—well, special friend—traveler, well… not like what you’re thinking. _Well_ , when I say not like that, what I mean is, not entirely like that.” The Doctor took a deep breath. “So, you lot crashed?”

The Captain frowned, the first mate remained expressionless, and one of Jayne’s eyebrows gave the slightest twitch.

“Engine trouble,” Zoe said.

“Pilot trouble,” Jayne said.

The Captain pinched the bridge of his nose and said, “A variety of factors. We had a… hard landing.”

The Doctor scrubbed at his chin and nodded. “You were running from something,” he said. “And given your ship, I’m going to guess it was Alliance. You couldn’t outrun them, so you crash landed to give them the slip.”

There was a flicker of annoyance in the Captain’s eyes and he moved forward, the first mate sticking close to his side. “Are you working for them?”

The Doctor made a face. “God, no,” he said, taking out his glasses, and placing them on his nose. “Do you mind if I…?”

The Captain shook his head, and the Doctor wandered idly around the cargo bay, doing a more thorough inspection than he had before. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the first mate lean over and whisper, “Sir?”

The Captain mentioned for her to stay put. Jayne fiddled nervously with his gun, and Rose twiddled her fingers in front of her, rocking back on her heels.

“So?” the Captain said, voice betraying his exhaustion.

“This ship,” the Doctor said, knocking one of the panels. “This ship is solid. Some of the best I’ve seen, outside of my TARDIS, and that’s saying something. It’s how you knew she could survive a crash. Just to give the feds a slip. You’ve got yourself stones, Captain, I’ll give you that much.”

“Ain’t going to lie to you, Doctor. The only things we’ve got of value are right here in this cargo bay.” The Captain paused, and then with great effort said, “Can you help us?”

“Depends what you call valuable,” the Doctor said, folding his glasses and putting them back in his pocket. “We’ll help you.” He found Rose’s gaze. “That’s what we do.”

***

Mal had surely had better days.

Oh, he spent a fair piece of time getting himself and his crew in various scrapes and mishaps. But even then, they usually managed to muddle their way through, always finding a way to escape the worst of the bullets.

Then came Miranda. And the Operative. And not nothing had been the same since.

Getting a job—any job—was damn near impossible, not the least problem being that most of their old contacts had been run through by the Operative’s sword. They were scraping the barrels of their food and fuel when the Alliance finally caught up to them.

It was River’s idea to fake their deaths.

Better than the alternative, Mal figured, but not by much. Whoever these people were, he didn’t much like the way they were grinning at each other, seemingly amused by the thought of an adventure. At his expense. And his crew.

The Doctor finally tore his gaze away from his companion. “How many onboard? They’re all accounted for?”

Mal felt more than saw Zoe’s steely glare.

“Doctor, I’m more than capable of looking out for my own crew,” he said evenly.

The Doctor tugged on one of his ears, and held up his other hand as an apology. “Right, course you can.”

“There’s seven of us,” Zoe answered. “Some of us are more banged up than others. We have an infirmary.”

“But everyone’s okay?” Rose said. “Nobody got hurt?”

“We’ve got a doctor of our own,” Mal said. His eyes ticked to the blue box sitting prettily in his cargo bay. He narrowed his eyes, barely making out the words in the harsh, green lighting. _Police Public Call Box._ Of all the strange things he’d seen…

The Doctor followed his gaze. “Never mind that. Piece of junk. Space junk. Anyway, chop, chop—ship to fix, people to save, time to get a move on. Anyplace better we can go to talk?”

“Galley,” Zoe said, glancing at Mal. “At least it’s got heat. More’n the rest of her’s got.”

She re-holstered her gun, appearing ready to accept the presence of the Doctor and Rose, at least for the time being.

“Jayne, check on the others,” Mal said. “Tell ‘em we’re meeting in the galley.”

Rose came forward, hands linked in front of her. “I promise you won’t regret this.”

Mal eyed her for a moment, and finally tilted his head. “This way.”

Rose waited for the Doctor to catch up to her, and they followed behind, conversing in low voices.

“Firefly class,” Rose said. She deepened her voice. “Firefly class. Got a ring to it, don’t you think?”

“Suppose so.”

“And what was all that about? What did they think you meant, me being your companion?”

The Doctor dropped his voice. “They think we’re shagging.”

“They think we’re _what_?”

Mal sighed, and whispered to Zoe, “This is going to go great.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Title** : Lending a Hand (2/?)  
 **Authors** : [](http://goldy-dollar.livejournal.com/profile)[**goldy_dollar**](http://goldy-dollar.livejournal.com/) and [](http://hjea.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://hjea.livejournal.com/)**hjea**  
 **Characters/Pairings** : Tenth Doctor, Rose, implied Ten/Rose, _Firefly_ crew with Mal/Inara and other canon pairings.  
 **Disclaimer** : We don’t own DW and/or Firefly. But we do secretly think that RTD is the evil genius offspring of Joss Whedon.  
 **Spoilers/Timeline** : Doctor Who: Post- _Fear Her_ , pre- _AoG/Doomsday_ , Firefly: post- _Serenity_  
 **Summary** : Wherever they’d ended up, it was _definitely_ not Sihnon.  
 **Rating** : PG13  
 **Words** : 1,200

**Chapter Two**

The kitchen was certainly warmer than the rest of the ship and was painted a cheerful yellow colour that would have been positively inviting, if not for the disarray that happened during the crash landing. A large wooden table was missing a leg and had been propped up by a pile of boxes, and cans and containers of food were strewn across the floor.

Rose followed closely behind the Doctor as he stepped briskly down the stairs and grinned at the two new people, a man and a woman, who were sitting side by side, waiting expectantly.

“Hello!”

Rose winced slightly from her place behind him, as the Doctor’s exuberant greeting was met with blank stares.

Captain Reynolds gestured over his shoulder at the two of them. “These folks heard our distress call and came to see if they could lend a hand. This here’s the Doctor and uh-“

“Rose.” Rose supplied.

The Captain shot a glance at her. “Right, sorry ‘bout that. Little preoccupied at the moment. Anyway-”

He turned back to his crew and seemed to focus on the woman particularly, who was holding a bandage to her forehead. “-Apparently she’s his companion.”

“Really?” The woman ran an appraising eye over Rose’s jeans and t-shirt.

“Uh, not that kind remember?” the Doctor jumped in, “Just, she’s uh… we-“

“We just travel together, yeah?” Rose cut in again, as her cheeks began to burn.

The first mate – Zoe – raised an eyebrow. “You two from Dyton colony?”

The Doctor paused and quickly glanced at Rose, who shrugged discreetly. “Um... yes, yes we are.”

“Long way to be out.” Zoe observed.

“Yes, well.” The Doctor waved his hands, “Call of the stars, lots to see, plenty to do, you know how it is. Really that’s enough about us – we need to see what we can do to get this _beautiful_ ship back in the air.”

The Doctor swept his gaze over the crew once more. “Do you have a mechanic, or an… an engineer, or-“

“-yeah, our mechanic’s around here somewhere.” The Captain looked at the young man, who was checking another bandage on the woman’s arm.

“She’s with River on the bridge.” The man explained. “Trying to fix… I don’t know - something. Little good it can do now if-“

“-yes, thank you, Doc.” The Captain glared quickly at the other man and then turned to the Doctor and Rose once again. “If you think you can help, best start now. Sooner we get off this rock the better for all of us.”

The Doctor nodded and rubbed his hands together excitedly. “Excellent!”

***

Mal was liking this plan less and less.

Not like he had the right to be picky, stuck in the situation that he was, but there was something about the two of them that rankled him. The girl seemed nice enough, young and innocent and looking eager to help (though looks could be deceiving), but there was something about that man, the Doctor, that Mal couldn’t put his finger on. He was a little too loud, a little too… enthusiastic, in a way likely to draw too much attention in this day and age. Man didn’t seem too be carrying a piece on him for one, nor seemed the violent sort, but if nothing else; Mal trusted his gut - and his gut told him this man was dangerous.

Kaylee and River were elbow deep in the bridge’s wiring, just like Simon had said, but both turned around when Mal and the two strangers entered behind them.

“Captain?” Kaylee turned tired eyes to him, but was then immediately drawn to the Doctor and his companion.

“Kaylee, these two heard our distress call an’ came to help.”

Mal stepped aside and let the two of them step forward.

“Doctor, Rose – this here’s my mechanic, Kaylee, and River, who pilots this ship. When she’s in space, anyway.”

The girl offered a smile to match Kaylee’s on her best day, as did the Doctor, before his eyes began roaming greedily over the nav-control. His mechanic visibly relaxed, and shook both their hands happily, all ready to make friends and beginning to talk a blue streak.

“Really nice to meet you. ‘Specially if you know much ‘bout Fireflys or wiring or anything. It’s not that I don’t know _Serenity’s_ workings like the back of my hand, but she got real shook up in the landing, jumbled up her insides real good, and that along with any physical damage she’s got along her hull mean’s it’s gonna be a while ‘fore she’s in the air again.”

Kaylee smiled apologetically at Mal. “But she’ll get there, Captain. _Serenity_ won’t let us down.”

Mal shook his head. “You’re doing just fine, Kaylee. You just – tell these people what they can do to help and use that genius mind of yours, dong ma?”

The Doctor turned towards him with an unreadable expression on his face.

“ _Serenity_?” He asked.

Mal nodded. “Name of my ship. There a problem?”

“Oh, uh… no.” The Doctor shook his head and turned his back on Mal, but not before he noticed the man’s friend shooting him a curious look.

Standing there, shifting uncomfortably, Mal suddenly realized that River hadn’t moved. Hadn’t budged an itch except to stare with widening eyes at the Doctor. Just as soon as he noticed and opened his mouth to say something, River took off – brushing past Mal and running down the hall to the galley with hardly a word.

“Oh, sorry ‘bout River.” Kaylee was biting her lip as she talked to them. “She’s just been feeling kinda guilty, even though she knows it were the right thing to do to get away from the feds. She also smacked her head something fierce coming down. Simon – he’s _our_ doctor, said she should be fine, but maybe she’s feeling a mite sick now.”

“Quite all right,” said the Doctor, as he bent to look under the display panel. “Lot’s of work to be done here though, reckon we should start making a crack at it?”

Kaylee grinned widely, and Mal couldn’t help feeling glad that at least one person was happy these two were there.

The girl, after one initial glance over the bridge’s blinking instruments, gestured behind her shoulder.

“Maybe I should go check on that girl, River. See if she’s okay?”

Mal shook his head, though he couldn’t say why. “No, that’s okay. You stay here, do uh… whatever you two do.”

He walked over to the comms and spoke briskly into them. “Zoe, you there?”

Zoe’s crackling voice answered immediately. “Yes, sir?”

“I think Little River could use some checking on, see if she’s got anything to say.”

“Understood, sir.”

When Mal turned back to face them, Kaylee and the Doctor’s top-halves had disappeared completely, and Rose was sitting at their feet, waving a blinking tool over something she was holding, a piece of metal Mal was fairly certain was supposed to be attached to something important.

Again, Mal felt… disconcerted over this man’s presence on his boat, a feeling he couldn’t quite put his finger on.

Mal really didn’t like that feeling.  



	3. Firefly/Doctor Who Crossover: Lending a Hand (3/?)

**Title** : Lending a Hand (3/?)  
 **Authors** : [](http://goldy-dollar.livejournal.com/profile)[**goldy_dollar**](http://goldy-dollar.livejournal.com/) and [](http://hjea.livejournal.com/profile)[**hjea**](http://hjea.livejournal.com/)  
 **Characters/Pairings** : Tenth Doctor, Rose, implied Ten/Rose, _Firefly_ crew with Mal/Inara and other canon pairings.  
 **Disclaimer** : We don’t own DW and/or Firefly. But we do secretly think that RTD is the evil genius offspring of Joss Whedon.  
 **Spoilers/Timeline** : Doctor Who: Post- _Fear Her_ , pre- _AoG/Doomsday_ , Firefly: post- _Serenity_  
 **Summary** : Wherever they’d ended up, it was _definitely_ not Sihnon.  
 **Rating** : PG13  
 **Word Count** : 2, 347

**Chapter Three**

“Machines talk to me, you see,” Kaylee explained. “Ship like Serenity, always lets me know when she’s hurtin’.”

The Doctor sent her a sidelong glance, clearly interested. “Like she’s inside your head.”

Rose rolled her eyes, and fiddled idly with the buttons on the console, trying her best to appear like she knew what she was doing.

Kaylee disappeared under the console again, her words muffled by the wires hanging in front of her face. “Ain’t never thought of putting it like so, exactly,” she said. “Just… got a sense for what needs doing. Like now, it’s her inner workings all gummed up. Soon as we untie ‘em, should be on our way again.”

Rose cleared her throat, and the Doctor spared her enough attention to pluck the sonic screwdriver out of her hands. “Thanks.”

“Oi,” Rose said. “I was using that!”

He ignored her, and showed his toy to Kaylee, who popped her head out curiously. “Already got a screwdriver, Doctor,” she finally said, cocking her head to the side to examine it. “Don’t think another one’ll help overly much.”

“Oh, but this isn’t any ordinary screwdriver, Kaylee Frye, _this_ —this is a sonic screwdriver,” the Doctor said. “Bound to come in handy.”

“Never heard of…”

The Doctor pushed one of the buttons, and the screwdriver lit up, fixing one of the damaged wires with a dull “plop.”

Kaylee looked from Rose to the Doctor, and then settled her gaze on the screwdriver. “That’s real shiny.”

“Innit?” the Doctor said.

They both took a moment to study the screwdriver proudly, and Rose shoved her hands in her back pockets.

“So I’ll just… go exploring, then,” she called. “You know, if you don’t need me…”

The Doctor waved one hand at her. “Got it all covered.”

“Can I try it?” Kaylee said, eyes popping excitedly.

“Certainly, third button to the top—there you go…”

Rose couldn’t prevent her small outburst. “Hang on, we were traveling together months before you even let me breathe on that screwdriver!”

The Doctor looked up from Serenity’s console, clearly surprised to find that she was still there. “Right. Well…”

“No, I get it,” Rose said. “I’m not good with machines. Just regular old, used-to-work-in-a-shop Rose Tyler. Can’t even bloody hear the TARDIS speaking to me.”

The Doctor blinked several times to show his confusion, and Rose bit her lip, suddenly realizing how silly she sounded. “You know what?” she said, swinging her hands in front of her. “I’m just going to go… I’ll see you later, yeah?”

She didn’t wait for an answer, instead ducking into Serenity’s cold passenger hallway.

All right, so she got a little possessive where the Doctor was concerned. But she had reason, didn’t she? Of course, she didn’t _really_ think he’d chuck her for a better companion. She’d even convinced herself he wouldn’t up and leave her somewhere, not like Sarah Jane, not like the rest of them. (Of course, there had been that time with that French woman, but Rose did her best not to dwell on that.) It was just—it seemed like one thing or another was always out trying to separate them.

_Something in the air. Something’s coming. A storm’s approaching._

Rose shivered and buried deeper into her jacket. Something was always coming, she reminded herself. Didn’t have to mean anything.

***

It didn’t take Zoe and Simon long to catch up with River.

Faint green light filtered down from the ceiling of the cargo bay, encasing the corners in dark shadows. Simon licked his lips, feet rooted to the floor.

“It’s… it’s a box,” Simon managed.

“A blue box, doctor,” Zoe corrected.

They both cocked their heads to the side, and Simon saw Zoe’s hand twitch over her gun-belt.

“But…” Simon scratched the back of his neck. “How did it _get_ here?”

“It appeared,” River said, standing in front of the box, transfixed. “Magic.”

Simon and Zoe glanced at each other.

“River, honey, is there something we should know?” Zoe said. “Captain thinks you might have sensed something.”

“I did,” River said simply. She reached out to touch the box, and then yanked her hand back, cradling it close to her chest.

“River—” Simon said, going to her.

“It’s alive,” River said. She closed her eyes. “I can feel it.”

Zoe looked worried, an expression that did nothing to make Simon feel better.

“It’s too much,” River whispered.

“Shh,” Simon said, cradling her cheeks between his hands. Her skin was pale, but warm to the touch. “River?”

She opened her eyes and leaned forward to hug him, sliding into his arms as easily as she had when she was ten, as she had since he’d rescued her from the Alliance. “I’m alright.”

Simon met Zoe’s gaze over River’s head. She shrugged.

Simon pulled away and grasped River’s shoulders. “ _Mei-mei_ , are we in danger?”

She rolled her eyes. “We’re criminals, Simon. We’re _always_ in danger.”

“She’s not wrong,” Zoe said, eyeing the box again. “But I’d be lyin’ if I said there weren’t something particular creepifying about that thing.”

River pulled herself out of Simon’s grasp. “I know what it is,” she said.

“And what’s that?” Simon said.

River shook her head and pressed her finger to her lips. “I need to talk to him.”

“But, River—”

“No,” River insisted, voice rising. “Not ready yet!”

She sounded so much like she used to—back before Miranda, when every day was a bad one—that Simon froze.

Which was all the time River needed to slip out of the cargo bay.

Zoe moved to stand next to him. “You know she ain’t wearing any shoes, doctor?”

Simon heaved a sigh. “I know.”

***

Mal’s boots echoed loudly in Serenity’s forlorn corridors, and he reminded himself that the ship had been through worse. Much worse. And they’d patch her up, just like they always did, get themselves back on their way.

Inara was the only person left in the galley, and Mal couldn’t help but feel glad. Having Inara around made things a mite less hopeless. Even if it meant her having to go back to her work, having her around… it was better. Better for all of them.

She smiled gently at him. “Tea?”

He almost refused, but then sunk into a chair, blinded by a headache. “Thanks.”

He watched her moving around, skirt rustling with her movements, and then jumped up, heading over to the stove. “Oh, hey, you shouldn’t… I mean, you got all banged up…”

Inara dropped the pot, startled. She swallowed heavily and turned to look at him. “I’m fine. We’re all shaken, but…”

“Simon patched you up?” Mal leaned forward to examine her forehead, and Inara rolled her eyes.

“Yes, fine,” she said again. She moved away, and righted the pot. “It could easily have been worse.”

“Yeah,” Mal said. He paused, and then said, “Any thoughts on our new friends?”

“Well, I hardly spoke to them,” Inara said. “I suppose it’s fortunate for us that they showed up when they did.”

“Yeah,” Mal said. “Is at that. Awful convenient.”

“I know this may come as something of a shock, but not everyone in the world is out to get you, Mal,” Inara said.

“They ain’t from Dyton,” Mal said. “Accent’s all wrong.”

Inara frowned, and set about steeping the tea. “Have you considered that they might really want to help?”

“Let ‘em onboard, didn’t I?”

Okay, so it wasn’t so much _letting_ them onboard as it was _finding_ them onboard, but he didn’t have to share that with Inara.

He rested one hand on the stove, and didn’t look at her when he said, “Just… want to get her in the air again. Out here we’re nothing but sitting ducks.”

He must’ve looked particularly downtrodden because Inara put her hand on his, fingers smoothing in gentle circles along his wrist. Well. That was a new, but not entirely unpleasant sensation.

“We’ll find a way,” she said. “Buddha knows, Serenity’s been through worse than this.”

Mal didn’t point out that “worse” included Miranda, and losing Wash, and miles of other memories he didn’t want to drudge up. Especially because he was afraid speaking would make Inara take her hand back. And he surely did not want that.

They were interrupted by a gentle throat clearing, and Inara hastily withdrew, turning back the stove.

It was the Doctor’s companion, Rose. She fidgeted in the doorway, picking at the edges of her frayed sleeves and trying to smile.

“Hi, sorry, not interrupting nothing, am I?”

Mal opened his mouth to respond, but Inara turned around, holding up the tea. “Of course not,” she said. “I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced. I’m Inara Serra.”

“Rose,” the girl said.

“Cup of tea?” Inara said. “You must be tired from your journey.”

“Hey!” Mal yelped. “You said I could—”

Inara shot him a dirty look, and Mal shut his mouth, feeling like he’d been caught sneaking through her underwear drawer, or some other similar heinous crime.

“You still drink tea? All the way out here?” Rose said, smiling in earnest. Off their looks, she explained. “It’s nice… finding bits of home when you’re off traveling.”

“Dyton’s not so far away,” Inara said mildly, handing Rose a mug.

“Feels like it. Don’t even remember the last time I spoke to Mum,” Rose said, cradling the mug between her hands. She blew on the surface. “Awful cold in here. How long you been living like this?”

Mal and Inara exchanged a look.

“Been almost a day now,” Mal said. “Had to wait before sending the distress call. Real lucky you two showed up when you did.” Inara raised her eyebrows and Mal sighed, adding, “Thank you.”

“Just wish I could be more help,” Rose said. “Never was much good at repairing anything. But the Doctor knows what he’s doing.”

Inara took a deliberate sip of tea and then said, “Have you two been together long?”

Rose lifted her gaze from the teacup, and Mal froze, suddenly sure she’d seen through Inara’s careful interrogation. But she only got a faraway look in her eyes and held her mug tighter.

“Feels like it’s been billions of years,” she said. “Before the Doctor, life was… it was the same, every day the same. I didn’t know there could be anything else. But he’s shown me things…” Rose trailed off, and took a careful sip of tea. “He’s shown me things I never would’ve believed possible.”

“It sounds like you care about him very much,” Inara said.

“Best thing that ever happened to me,” Rose said. She set the tea down, and gave them a mischievous smile. “So? How about you lot? Is anybody here ever gonna tell me what being a ‘companion’ is supposed to mean?”

Inara drew in a breath, and ended up with a mouthful of tea—which she promptly began choking on.

If Mal laughed, it was only because he’d had a long three days.

***

The Doctor saw her feet first. Her bare feet, to be precise. An oddity at the best of times, but on a crashed ship? A crashed ship without heat? _That_ was leading into the area of “quirky” and perhaps even “strange.”

Kaylee had left to check on the engine room, muttering about compression coils and “cheap excuses for spare parts,” leaving the Doctor alone.

Or so he thought.

Telling himself to be very, very careful, the Doctor slid out from under the console, sensing her gaze. “Hello, River, was it?”

She nodded, a mess of tangled hair brushing her shoulders. “I know who you are,” she said. “I wish… I didn’t have to—but I always see. I always see it.”

“‘See,’” the Doctor repeated. “What do you see?”

“Everything,” River whispered. “Billions of years… time and space… things that don’t go together.”

“Things that don’t go…” the Doctor trailed off in understanding. He pushed himself to his feet and found her eyes. “You’re psychic.”

She blinked at him, relaxing but still suspicious. “It wasn’t my fault. They did this to me. They put things in my brain, changed me, made it so I was no longer a girl.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” the Doctor said. “Still look awful girlish from where I’m standing. Just more powerful than most.”

“You’re like me,” River said simply.

The Doctor stayed still, holding her gaze. “Yes.”

“You can feel… and you see inside things, other people,” River said. “And it hurts.”

“I’m lucky,” the Doctor said. “I can control it. I’ve had nine-hundred years.”

“Too long,” River said. “Oh, god…” She collapsed into the pilot’s seat, cradling her forehead in her hands. “It’s too long, and they always leave… it’s only a matter of time. You almost thought she would be different, but she’ll go, too—and it’ll be bad, worse, worse than…”

“River—”

The Doctor was so startled by the new voice that he dropped his screwdriver. He bent down to pick it up, and emerged to see the ship’s doctor, carrying a pair of boots and looking harried.

“River, the boots… are not a toy to be hidden,” he said. “They’re to be worn. On your feet. You’ll cut yourself.”

River seemed to come out of her trance, and she shot the newcomer a look of exasperated affection. “Doctor,” she said, voice calm, like their earlier exchange hadn’t happened, “this is Simon, my brother.”

“Hi,” Simon said tightly, before turning back to his sister. “River, will you just put them on?”

River stuck her tongue out at him, but accepted the boots. “I’m not a brat.”

Simon threw up his hands. “I never said—”

“But you thought it,” the Doctor said quietly. They both turned to look at him, and he cleared his throat. “Yes, well, getting a bit peckish. Don’t suppose you lot have got anything in that kitchen of yours?”

“There’s, uh… there’s protein,” Simon said. “But I wouldn’t recommend…”

“Nah, brilliant, protein,” the Doctor said, jumping to his feet. “Jot of that stuff is like liquid energy, it is.”


	4. Crossover Fic: Lending a Hand (4/?), Firefly/Doctor Who

Small update, but an important one. *nods*

**Title** : Lending a hand  
 **Authors** : [](http://goldy-dollar.livejournal.com/profile)[**goldy_dollar**](http://goldy-dollar.livejournal.com/) and [](http://hjea.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://hjea.livejournal.com/)**hjea**  
 **Characters/Pairings** : Tenth Doctor, Rose, implied Ten/Rose, _Firefly_ crew with Mal/Inara and other canon pairings.  
 **Disclaimer** : We don’t own DW and/or _Firefly_. But we do secretly think that RTD is the evil genius offspring of Joss Whedon.  
 **Spoilers/Timeline** : Doctor Who: Post- _Fear Her_ , pre- _AoG/Doomsday_ , Firefly: post- _Serenity_  
 **Summary** : Wherever they’d ended up, it was _definitely_ not Sihnon.  
 **Rating** : PG-13  
 **Words** : 907

**Chapter Four**

After a strained explanation with lots of stammering and blushing (most of it from the Captain), Rose could safely say that, judging from _this_ period’s definition of a companion, she was most certainly _not_ it.

Rose ran into the Doctor on her way out of the galley, and continuing her train of thought said, “Doesn’t sound so hard, really. Just got to find myself the money for outfits Mum would never let me wear, and then let rich and successful men all compete for my attention.”

“Yes, precisely.” He turned to look at her. “What rich men?”

Rose waved a hand at him. “Oh, you know. The ones I’ll have after becoming a princess of some kind. How’s the engine going?”

“Fine, great,” the Doctor said, the look on his face telling her it was anything but.

“Doctor?” she prodded.

He sighed, and studied her. “How about you? Everything alright?”

“Yeah,” Rose said. “Why… why wouldn’t it be?”

“Oh, no reason,” the Doctor said. “Only statistically, I’d say this is about the right time for something to go horribly, horribly wrong.”

“Well, let’s not jinx it,” Rose said hastily.

There was something about him, something about the look on his face—something he wasn’t telling her.

“Doctor, what’s going on?”

He looked down at her, and then smiled reassuringly, pulling her into a tight hug.

She relaxed against him and smiled into his shoulder, feeling safe in the circle of his arms. Time passed, she wasn’t sure how much, and the thought occurred to her that they probably had things to do.

Rose fidgeted. “Uh, Doctor?”

He dropped his arms abruptly. “Right – back to business, eh, Rose Tyler?”

He smiled _that_ smile for her and, like always, she felt her heart twist with happiness.

A loud crash sounded from the cargo bay, like something heavy had been dropped, followed quickly by a loud bellow of alarm.

The Doctor grabbed Rose’s hand and pulled her towards the noise.

“There you go,” He was grinning as they raced to face whatever new adventure it was. “Right on time.”

***

Jayne sat on the steps, nursing his foot, glaring at… whatever it was that Kaylee was circling like it was the tenth wonder of Londonium. Girl hadn’t said anything, hadn’t even seemed to breathe all that much since the door to that… _thing_ had swung open and she had been nice enough to drop her entire box of tools and engine bits on his foot.

The box still lay there, shattered into firewood now; tools spread out across the cargo bay floor every which-a-way, but she hadn’t so much as glanced at the mess, just kept walking round and round that… box.

Jayne eased his boot flap away from his foot and swore; convinced it was already bruising a nice colour of purple.

“Gorramit, Kaylee. Next time you wanna drop a box make sure’s hell you do it on someone else’s foot.”

Jayne paused, noticing that she wasn’t listening.

“What is that thing anyway? Why, uh… why’s it look like that inside?”

Kaylee breathed out in a long rush of air, which Jayne supposed was a good sign.

“It… it don’t make no sense.”

She stared at it, transfixed.

“Thing like that just… can’t be that big inside.”

Jayne heard the sound of running behind him, and he resolutely shoved his foot back into the boot and stood up to face them. That Doctor and his pretty blonde girl reached him first, tailed close behind by Mal, Inara and Zoe. Every one of them suddenly skidded to a stop, jaws dropping as they stared at the sight in front of them.

The Doctor turned to Rose.

“You left the TARDIS _open_?”

Rose tore her eyes away from the sight and glared at him, affronted. “No! Of course I didn’t! Besides, you were the last one out the door!”

“Yeah, but I never leave her unlocked!”

Mal cleared his throat, “Sure as hell hate to interrupt folks, but what the hell is that?”

Simon jogged down the steps and peered down from the catwalk at the crowd below. “Hey what’s going – oh.” He paused. “That’s not possible.”

Jayne was explaining as best he could. “-helping to carry the box with Kaylee when that thing just opened and… well it’s gorram creepifying is what it is.”

Kaylee stepped a bit closer, not touching but eyes wide as she tried to understand what she was seeing.

“The physics of this… how they make it fit – that technology couldn’t – shouldn’t work.” She was muttering, not seeming to realize anyone else was there. “Musta cost a fortune to make it so, _how_ it works…”

The Doctor threw his hands in the air, “-don’t even need to lock it! Just close the door behind you _firmly_ and she’ll be right as-“

Rose was standing with her hands on her hips, looking increasingly like her mother on a rampage. “-don’t suppose it occurred to you, Doctor, that the TARDIS might have opened on its own and-“

The Doctor shook his head, “-of course not, the TARDIS would never just-“

The click of a gun right sounding right behind his head cut the Doctor off. Slowly, he raised his hands and turned around.

“Now Kaylee,” Mal stood calmly, his gun leveled evenly at the Doctor’s face. “Repeat that last bit real slowly. How much do you think this thing is worth?”


	5. Crossover Fic: Lending a Hand (5/?), Firefly/Doctor Who

**Title** : Lending a hand (5/?)  
 **Authors** : [](http://goldy-dollar.livejournal.com/profile)[**goldy_dollar**](http://goldy-dollar.livejournal.com/) and [](http://hjea.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://hjea.livejournal.com/)**hjea**  
 **Characters/Pairings** : Tenth Doctor, Rose, implied Ten/Rose, _Firefly_ crew with Mal/Inara and other canon pairings.  
 **Disclaimer** : We don’t own DW and/or _Firefly_. But we do secretly think that RTD is the evil genius offspring of Joss Whedon.  
 **Spoilers/Timeline** : Doctor Who: Post- _Fear Her_ , pre- _AoG/Doomsday_ , Firefly: post- _Serenity_  
 **Summary** : Wherever they’d ended up, it was _definitely_ not Sihnon.  
 **Rating** : PG-13  
 **Words** : 1, 593

**Chapter Five**

For a long moment, they all stood frozen, silent. The Doctor and Rose, hands in the air, Mal, gun pointed at them, Zoe, backing him up, Jayne, grinning like it was pay day.

The Doctor drew in a deep breath, looking somewhere between amused and highly ticked off. “Believe me, Captain Reynolds, this is _not_ something you want to be sticking your nose in.”

“No, no,” Jayne said, advancing, pain in his foot evidently forgotten. “We’re finally making some gorram sense. We ain’t had a job worth more’n a damn these last few months. Could be just the thing we need.”

“But they’re helping us!” Kaylee cried. “Wouldn’t be right to just… just steal from ‘em.”

“It is… kind of what we do,” Simon said. Kaylee shot him a fierce glare and he took a step back. “I’m just saying.”

“Just looking for some answers, is all,” Mal said, gun still pointed at the Doctor. “Don’t reckon these two have been exactly honest with us.”

“Mal, this is ridiculous,” Inara said. “You can’t honestly think that you’re going to get answers by holding them at gunpoint!”

“They could be Alliance,” Simon said slowly, folding his arms across his chest and moving to stand next to Mal. He jerked his head in the direction of the box. “This… is exactly the sort of thing they’d try and pull.”

“ _Simon_!” Kaylee said, appalled.

“I am _not_ Alliance,” the Doctor said, quite aghast at the insinuation. “And—hold on, got the documentation to prove it….”

“ _Hands_ ,” Mal barked.

“Oh, alright, never mind,” the Doctor said, raising his hands above his head again. He rolled his eyes at the ceiling. “No wonder you lot crashed.”

“If you was Alliance,” Jayne said. “Ain’t no way you’d admit to it.”

“He’s got a point,” Simon said quietly. “And I don’t… usually say that.”

Mal nodded. “This is how it’s going to go. You’re going to tell me exactly _what_ that is and who you are—”

“And what are you going to do if I don’t answer? Huh?” the Doctor said. “Shoot me down in cold blood? That’s your answer for everything, isn’t it? You humans. See something you don’t understand, and you go reaching for your gun. And what about Rose? What about her? Going to kill her, too? Just because you might have a shot at making a _profit_!”

The Doctor spat the last word, but then pulled himself together, eyes plainly holding a challenge.

“Could get River,” Zoe finally said. “See what she knows.”

“No.”

“Come on, Mal,” Inara said. “You’re being unreasonable.”

“Yeah?” Mal said, not taking his eyes off the Doctor. “Cause I’m thinking of putting my crew first?”

“And damn anyone who’s unlucky enough to get caught in the _crossfire_?” the Doctor demanded. “That’s a slippery slope to go down, Captain. Believe me, I know.”

Mal opened his mouth to respond, but Rose elbowed her way between the two men. “Everyone _shut up_!” she yelled. They all froze, and Rose took a sharp breath. “Captain, that’s our spaceship. You take that away from us, and we don’t have a way to go home. We’ll tell you what you want to know, any questions you’ve got, but please… it’s just our ship. It’s how we got here.”

Mal hesitated, and Jayne craned his head around to look at the… thing. “Don’t look like any spaceship I’ve ever seen,” he muttered.

“Shh,” Kaylee said, elbowing him in the ribs. “Cap’n?”

She looked up at him hopefully, wringing her hands. Mal sighed.

“Alright,” Mal said, clicking on the safety and holstering the gun. “But you best be tellin’ me how a piece of _go se_ like that can fly.”

***

The Doctor stood at the head of the galley table, hands shoved into pockets. Gone was the sharp flash of anger he’d shown earlier down in the cargo bay. He was clearly still upset, but composed. Rose kept shooting him worried looks, something that did little to ease Mal’s mind.

“My ship, that blue box sitting in your cargo hold, she’s a TARDIS. We landed here by accident.”

“Sort of happens a lot,” Rose added.

“A TARDIS?” Mal said.

“Time and Relative Dimensions in Space,” Rose answered promptly, smiling when the Doctor sent her a look of surprise.

Mal blinked at them. “What?”

“Time and Relative… oh, never mind,” the Doctor said. “Takes a certain amount of wits to grasp the concept.”

Inara’s responding sneeze sounded suspiciously like a snort. Mal craned his neck around to glare at her.

“It’s bigger on the inside,” Kaylee said.

“Yes,” the Doctor said.

“But that’s impossible,” Simon said.

“Fine, it was a trick of light,” the Doctor said. “Only your imagination. All settled, then. Are we done here?”

“Doctor,” Rose hissed.

He rolled his eyes, and took his hands out of his pockets, bracing his weight on the galley table. “The thing is, the TARDIS isn’t an ordinary ship. Not even a ship at all, in the strictest sense of the word. Few things older than her in the universe. And I’m one of them.”

“Yeah, that explains it all nicely,” Rose said. “You’d think, given all the talking you do, you could… I dunno, try putting it simply.”

Simon muttered a litany of words to himself, some of them sounding like “time” and “space.” Mal shot him a look, and he closed his mouth, blinking sheepishly.

“As fascinating as this all is, Doctor,” Mal started. “We ain’t exactly touched upon how in the ‘verse that thing can fly—”

“Oh, my god,” Simon breathed, head jerking up. “It’s a time machine.”

Jayne jumped up so quickly, his chair crashed violently to the ground behind him. “That’s not possible. No living person could do that.”

“That’s right,” the Doctor said. “Only person who’d have a time machine wouldn’t be a person at all. In fact, he’d have to be an alien. A terribly advanced alien. From a galaxy far, far away… no, hang on, that’s not quite right—”

“You’re an alien?” Simon interrupted, sitting down heavily. “But I thought… the Alliance…”

“Denies the existence of aliens?” the Doctor finished. “Course it does. Blimey, government has enough trouble keeping you lot in check without adding other species to the mix. Can you imagine? Barely even managed to hold on after that big war of yours. How do you suppose it would sell aliens on top of it? Nah, no such thing. Lucky for them, be another few hundred years before you get far enough out to make contact. First contact. And by then, the Alliance will be long gone.”

Simon looked like he might be ill. He pressed the back of his hand to his mouth. “None of this makes any sense.”

“You’re telling me,” Mal said. He was having a conversation about aliens and time machines. _Tianna_ , that last crash Serenity took had _really_ muddled his brains.

“I believe it,” Zoe said, startling them all. “Only way to explain what we saw.”

Mal glanced at Rose. “And you… you’re… I mean…”

“Human,” Rose said. “But I’m not from here, if that’s what you mean. I was born about five-hundred years ago, on planet earth.”

Inara glanced at him worriedly. “Sit down?” she suggested.

Mal sat, but only because it seemed like the thing to do.

“So you’re not…” Simon rubbed one finger in his ear rather vigorously, as if to make certain he’d be able to properly catch every word. “You’re not… Alliance.”

“Nope,” the Doctor said. “The Alliance is just a government. Me, I’m… everywhere.”

Jayne thumped one hand on the table. “A time machine, Mal. A gorram _time machine_. Think of all the coin we could—”

“No,” Mal said. He looked up at the Doctor. “That ain’t our way.”

“Oh, and it was five minutes ago, was it?” the Doctor said.

“So long as the two of you get in that ship of yours and—”

“Can I see it?” Kaylee said, bouncing up from the table. There was a general murmur of agreement from the rest of the crew, even Zoe.

Mal tried to meet each of their eyes in turn. And failed. “Kaylee, I don’t reckon the Doctor wants to hold his ship up like some sort of display at the country fair.”

“Why not?” the Doctor said. “Always a bit of a culture shock, though. Still, none of you are likely to get this opportunity again. What do you say, Rose?”

“We’ll give them the grand tour, yeah?” Rose said. “Around the engine room and to the right?”

The Doctor winced. “Haven’t cleaned there, and there was that nasty spill we took last week.”

“Could go to the left,” Rose suggested, stopping at the pinched look on the Doctor’s face. “Right, there’s been heaving.”

“She’ll be right as rain, few weeks time,” the Doctor said, sounding offended. “How was I to know there was a leak?”

Rose rolled her eyes. “Up, counter-clockwise, and then north-east?”

“Are you people insane?” Mal muttered, resisting the strong temptation to rub at his temples.

The Doctor ignored him. “That’ll do, provided the TARDIS doesn’t have anything to say about it.” He faced the crew. “So, who’s up for a tour?”

One by one, Kaylee, Simon, Inara, Zoe, and Jayne raised their hands, shooting guilty looks in Mal’s direction after doing so.

“So,” Mal said. “You two are stickin’ around. That’s…”

Mal’s crew hurriedly followed the Doctor and Rose out of the cargo bay.

“That’s… great,” Mal finished, forehead dropping down to hit the table.  



	6. Crossover Fic: Lending a Hand (6/?), Firefly/Doctor Who

**Title** : Lending a hand (6/?)  
 **Authors** : [](http://goldy-dollar.livejournal.com/profile)[**goldy_dollar**](http://goldy-dollar.livejournal.com/) and [](http://hjea.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://hjea.livejournal.com/)**hjea**  
 **Characters/Pairings** : Tenth Doctor, Rose, implied Ten/Rose, _Firefly_ crew with Mal/Inara and other canon pairings.  
 **Disclaimer** : We don’t own DW and/or _Firefly_. But we do secretly think that RTD is the evil genius offspring of Joss Whedon.  
 **Spoilers/Timeline** : Doctor Who: Post- _Fear Her_ , pre- _AoG/Doomsday_ , Firefly: post- _Serenity_  
 **Summary** : Wherever they’d ended up, it was _definitely_ not Sihnon.  
 **Rating** : PG-13  
 **Words** : 1, 726

**Chapter Six**

River could feel it. She watched them pile in—Rose, the Doctor, Simon, Kaylee, Jayne, Zoe, Inara—and they didn’t notice her. She could spend hours slipping along the ship—melting until she became invisible.

It was inside their heads. All of them. But they couldn’t feel it. Not like… not like River could.

The catwalk was cold as she slipped down the stairs, one hand held out in front of her (to push aside the monsters in the dark?). She could feel them coming. Had to hide.

Maybe crashing Serenity wasn’t such a good idea. She smiled. But fun—fun for those few seconds they hung, weightless, dangling.

Mal winced with every bang of his ship, remembering the last time and knowing River wasn’t as skilled as Wash—not yet. Zoe didn’t care—hadn’t cared about much, not since Wash. And Simon. Only cared about her, all of them, running around fixing injuries.

Simon. She smiled again. She would never, ever let anything happen to him.

She approached the Doctor’s ship, still with her hand out in front of her. Didn’t need to see inside it. Knew already. The ship was inside her head.

But she had to hide. There wasn’t much time left.

***

One tour.

One tour of the Doctor’s ship, and Mal’s crew seemed wholly prepared to accept that he really _was_ an alien who could travel in time. Now they were carrying on, acting like they were about two-year-olds.

On Mal’s left, Rose was talking animatedly to Simon and Jayne, both of whom were watching her with their mouths slightly agape.

“So there I am, middle of London, World War Two, and I’m _hanging_ from a barrage balloon. Germans are dropping bombs all around me, and what am I wearing? Union Jack, all over my chest. Can you picture that?”

“No, uh…” Simon said. “That would be… I mean, I wouldn’t…”

“No problems from me,” Jayne said.

“I thought I was done for,” Rose continued. “Doctor’s nowhere in sight, and I thought—I thought, that’s it, I’m gonna die in the middle of World War Two, fifty-years before I was even born.”

On Mal’s other side, the Doctor and Inara were engaged in a spirited debate about Sihnonise poodles.

“But that’s nothing. A dog that can bring me the paper and the coffee in the morning? Now _that_ is a dog I’d keep on the TARDIS.”

“They’re incredibly smart, Doctor. Really, some of these dogs have been used to help the sick. Many say they can’t live without them.”

“Yeah, but do they _talk_?”

“Not everything has to talk to provide companionship.”

“Suppose not,” the Doctor admitted after a particularly pained pause. “And you’d be a better judge of that than me. But they shave the tails? _Really_?”

Mal tuned them out and tapped one food idly against the floor, his scowl deep enough to warn his crew to stay away.

Most of his crew.

“Hey, Cap’n,” Kaylee said, smiling like it was Christmas, like they weren’t stuck on some god-forsaken rock. “Serenity’s doin’ better, ain’t she?”

Well, there was that. Life support was functioning normally, and with it, heat, lights, and electricity. They’d even cleaned up the galley, righted the chairs and table, picked up the broken pieces of glass.

“Best mechanic in the ‘verse,” Mal said.

Kaylee beamed, but then said. “Couldn’t’a done it without the Doctor. He’s got this screwdriver, Cap’n. Never seen nothing like it. Can fix just about anything. Suppose it must be alien technology. Ain’t that just something?”

“Don’t see what’s so special about a gorram screwdriver, Kaylee. Don’t make him the second coming. Don’t even make him an alien.” He paused, and for clarifying sakes, added, “Ain’t no such thing.”

Kaylee studied him worriedly, rocking back and forth on her heels. “Maybe you’re just jealous.”

Mal’s head whipped up. “Excuse me?”

“Well!” Kaylee said. “Look at him, getting alone with everyone better’n you do. Fixed the ship right up in hardly no time at all! And now he’s flirtin’ with Inara—”

“ _Shénme_?” Mal said. “Kaylee, that is not even…”

“Yep,” Kaylee said, frowning in a sympathetic way. “You think he’s replacing you.”

“That is—I do not—”

“But that ain’t going to happen, Cap’n,” Kaylee said, smiling so sweetly it momentarily threw Mal off. “Always gonna be you we look up to.”

Mal swallowed and rose to his feet. “Might not be the best idea,” he finally said. “Following me ain’t done any of us a whole lot of good lately.”

“That ain’t so, Cap’n,” Kaylee said. “Sides, it’ll get better. Always does.”

“Hope so, _mei-mei_ ,” he said.

***

For an alien, the Doctor looked remarkably human. Inara was embarrassed to admit that she’d always had a storybook image of aliens—green and slimy, with two heads and claws. But the Doctor was indistinguishable from any other human being. Truthfully, it was a little unnerving. It meant there could be any number of aliens living among them, and there would be no way to tell.

Mal could be an alien. Perhaps it would even explain a few things about him.

Inara turned her face to hide her smile behind her wrist, and coughed a few times muffle her laughter.

If the Doctor noticed her amusement, he didn’t let on, prattling away about something or another on Sihnon, somehow under the impression that her experiences were of the outmost authority.

And Inara, who hadn’t set foot in Sihnon in years and had no intention of ever doing so again, felt absurdly grateful for the opportunity. There was certainly no one else on Serenity she could reminisce with—not even Simon, whose time in the Core still left him with mixed feelings.

“Do they still do the winter carnival every year? With the ice sculptures? And the little… what are they—”

“Marionette dancers?” Inara suggested. “Yes.”

“Love those,” the Doctor said. “There’s no strings. You can’t see strings anywhere. And believe me, I’ve tried. Genius. I was hoping to take Rose, maybe even try a few of those Sihnoise snow cones.”

The Doctor leaned back against the kitchen counter, legs crossed in front of him. To Inara, it looked like a hideously uncomfortable way to stand, but it didn’t seem to bother him.

“—Rose would’ve gotten such a kick out of Marionettes, but here we are, I suppose. Going where the trouble is. Crashed ships, abandoned planets—that’s us.” The Doctor paused, thinking over what he’d just said. He scratched his chin. “Not that you’re not all lovely company, of course.”

He trailed off long enough to meet Rose’s eyes on the other side of the room and give a small wave. She beamed back at him, sharing some sort of inside joke with a small tilt of her head and a smile.

The Doctor grinned back, and then pushed off the counter, focusing on Inara again. “But an Alliance Companion traveling on a ship like this, now that’s a mystery if I ever saw one.”

“Well, I…” Inara stuttered, caught off guard. “I wanted to expand my client base.”

The Doctor looked disappointed, and then perked up again, raising one hand. “No, no, no, no, don’t tell me.” He paused to think. “Does it involve a jar of honey and a very angry bear?”

Inara cracked a smile, but before she could answer, Mal came up beside her, gracing the Doctor with an expression he usually reserved for people he was about to shoot.

“Doctor.”

The Doctor blinked, and then mimicking Mal’s tone, said, “Captain Reynolds?”

They eyed each other, and Inara cleared her throat. “Mal?”

Mal twisted his neck around. “Yeah, huh, what?”

She raised her eyebrows in warning, but the Doctor seemed to get the hint (mostly from Mal’s death glare), and backed away. “Oh, look at the time. Ship’s calling me. Best be off doing something… alien.”

The Doctor deposited his half-empty tea mug into Mal’s arms before he could protest.

“Uh—” Mal started, but the Doctor walked away, hands jammed into pockets. Mal looked down at the half-empty mug. “How did—”

Inara took the mug out of his hand and placed it on the counter. She glanced at the Doctor, and then back at Mal, whose look was of the outmost suspicion.

“You two were talking,” Mal stated. He said the word “talking” like he used to say the word “client.”

“Yes,” Inara said. She felt a stir of pity at the look on his face and decided she was too tired for a fight. “There’s no harm in being friendly, Mal. They’ve been good to us.”

Mal grunted in an ambiguous sort of way, but looked reassured. She took a place next to him and watched as the Doctor interrupted Simon and Jayne, easily drawing Rose’s attention. She grinned at him, and they left the galley arm-in-arm, giggling and chatting in not-so-quiet voices.

Mal shook his head. “Don’t see how she can do that. Up and leave her family behind and go traipsing about the ‘verse—”

“—and through time,” Inara added. Mal eyeballed her, and she added, “I just… time and space. That’s a little more than your average vessel is capable of.”

“That is not…” Mal paused, and then tried again in a more authoritative tone. “Just don’t seem right. Acting like it ain’t anything outside of normal.”

Inara shrugged. “Well, she doesn’t seem to have any regrets. I suppose making a few sacrifices for someone you care about is nothing in the grand scheme of things. And they do… seem very close.”

Inara stopped, suddenly aware of the way Mal was looking at her.

“Yeah, well,” Mal said, cutting his eyes away.

“Yes,” Inara said, clearing her throat. “I should…”

“Yeah—no, there’s—getting late,” Mal said.

“It is,” Inara said. She moved to go around him, and almost collided with him instead. She pulled back, flustered, and then noticed the smirk tugging at his mouth.

“Coffee?”

“Mal, it’s… it’s practically the middle of the night,” she said.

He shrugged. “So? Ain’t got much else in the way to drink. ‘Sides, I ain’t set to sleep. You?”

The question probably should not have made her flush the way it did. “I—no,” she managed. “Coffee would be nice.

***  



	7. Crossover Fic: Lending a Hand (7/?), Firefly/Doctor Who

**Title** : Lending a hand (7/?)  
 **Authors** : [](http://goldy-dollar.livejournal.com/profile)[**goldy_dollar**](http://goldy-dollar.livejournal.com/) and [](http://hjea.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://hjea.livejournal.com/)**hjea**  
 **Characters/Pairings** : Tenth Doctor, Rose, implied Ten/Rose, _Firefly_ crew with Mal/Inara and other canon pairings.  
 **Disclaimer** : We don’t own DW and/or _Firefly_. But we do secretly think that RTD is the evil genius offspring of Joss Whedon.  
 **Spoilers/Timeline** : Doctor Who: Post- _Fear Her_ , pre- _AoG/Doomsday_ , Firefly: post- _Serenity_  
 **Summary** : In this chapter, Zoe is more curious about the Doctor’s time machine than Mal would otherwise like, and Rose doesn’t quite get why everyone speaks like they just walked out of a Western.  
 **Rating** : PG-13  
 **Words** : 1, 167

**Chapter Seven**

It was late. Mal yawned widely and poured the last dregs of coffee into his mug, ignoring the slightly dirty look that Inara gave him.

“Well, that must be my excuse to retire.” Inara pushed away from the table and stood. “It’s been a long – if not a very interesting – day.”

Mal nodded. “That it has. One of the _more_ interesting ones, any rate. We’ll see you in the morning, then?”

“It’s not like I’m going to go anywhere.” Inara’s hand brushed across his shoulder as she walked towards the door. “Goodnight.”

She nodded at Zoe, who was sitting across from Mal, holding her own mug gently between her hands. “ _Wǎn ān_ , Zoe.”

Zoe looked up. “Night, Inara.”

Mal waited until Inara’s footsteps had stopped echoing down the hall, and then turned his focus to his first mate.

“You’ve been awfully quiet tonight.”

Zoe raised an eyebrow.

“You know what I mean. Something on your mind?”

Zoe’s eyebrow rose even further. “You checking up on me, sir?”

Mal shifted uncomfortably in his chair. “Well, like Inara said – been an interesting day. No harm in a little… checking.”

Zoe’s mouth twitched, which Mal knew meant she was laughing really hard at him in the inside. “Just going over the day, sir. Thinking about the Doctor and his time machine.”

Mal snorted. “We sure as hell don’t know if that thing’s a time machine. I still ain’t convinced it’s a ship.”

Zoe looked at him steadily. “That were true, you would’ve taken that box and sold it for hard cash long ago now. Only reason you didn’t this afternoon was ‘cause that girl begged you. Said it was their way home.”

Mal twitched again in his seat. “Maybe that’s so. But I didn’t.”

“No, sir. And because you didn’t, we got to look around in that time machine. See what it’s about.”

Mal rolled his eyes. “I may be open to thinking that’s their ship, but I still wouldn’t say time machine. Just ain’t possible.”

He looked up, suddenly suspicious, and gave Zoe a hard look. “What makes you so well and eager to think it so?”

“Simon thinks it is.”

Mal waved his hand dismissively. “Doc’s had all sorts of fancy schooling. Makes ‘em willing to believe anything if you throw enough big words in. No, I’m asking ‘bout you.”

Zoe looked away down at the floor and Mal’s gut clenched slightly at the uncharacteristic gesture.

“If that blue box down in the cargo bay _was_ a time machine, sir-“

She was speaking slowly, seemingly choosing each word carefully.

“-Means it could let us go back, change things.”

“Zoe-“

“Means I could change it – move him outta the way, knock him down or something.”

Zoe, that ain’t-“

She wasn’t listening, just allowing her thoughts to be heard out loud.

“Means I could save Wash.”

“Zoe.”

She looked at him.

“Even if that thing could travel in time – and I ain’t saying it could – I don’t think you could change something like that. Don’t seem right. The dead, no matter how we wish it, are supposed to stay dead.”

“But if there was a chance…”

Mal shook his head. It was unnerving for him to try and be the rational one while Zoe allowed herself whims and fancies, however understandable.

“Look, maybe it’s time to pack it in. Been a long day and we’ve still got miles to go before we can get _Serenity_ back in the air.”

“Mal.”

Mal stopped.

“You should see it,” she said. “It ain’t Alliance, ain’t nothing a living person could do.”

Mal sighed. “I’ll talk to him.”

Zoe raised both her eyebrows.

“Won’t even threaten him this time around,” Mal mumbled. “Just… don’t reckon it’s a good idea for you to get your hopes all up.”

Zoe’s gaze was steady. “Don’t worry ‘bout me, sir.”

***

Rose drummed her fingers on the TARDIS’ console. “It’s too bad everyone’s asleep. I’m not tired at all.”

“That’s because-“ The Doctor checked one of the screens, “-time you’ve been running on lately, it’s only about twelve noon.”

“Oh.” Rose propped her chin in her hand. “That’d explain it then. Also’d explain why I’m so hungry. Are there any-“

“-No chips.” The Doctor grinned. “But there are some leftover fried grangis beetles from Blantokin Four.”

Rose made a face. “No, thank you. Rather eat protein.”

“Oh, come one, Rose! They’re a delicacy! Lovely and crunchy on the outside, slimy and gooey on the inside, just slide down your throat-“

Rose threw a packet of protein at him.

“Oi!”

She stuck her tongue out cheekily and waited for him to shake his head and smile back.

“Do you think you’ll be able to get their ship working again?”

The Doctor nodded and ducked under the console. “Oh, certainly. Shouldn’t be too much longer either. Just a little tinkering here, a little tightening there – she’ll be right as rain! I told you Fireflys were steady as a rock.”

He stood up triumphantly and tossed some strange-looking tool at her. Rose caught it with a grin.

“Bit of a strange world though, isn’t it?”

The Doctor looked at her. “What do you mean?”

“Well,” Rose shrugged. "Them I guess. I mean, it’s brilliant and I’m glad we’re helping them ‘cause most of them are really nice, yeah? But they're all speaking like they've come out of some Western movie, but there's Chinese everywhere and they're eating with chopsticks and... what is this world on about?"

"Culture, Rose!" He pointed at her, "Earth culture specifically." The Doctor's grin was wild and familiar as he swung around the TARDIS's console again.

"I said - you humans push out, creating new worlds, discovering, changing. But you're not all the same - not some..." He waved his hands in the air, "homogenous group all the same. No, you're different - different parts of the earth with all your own stories and food and language and music and that doesn't change! Traveling doesn't change you; you, you just mishmash it together preserving and adapting until what you humans have: your culture - maintains and bends and how fantastic is that?!"

He whirled around to face her again. "And you should know that better than anyone, coming from London! Where you go out and get your curry next door to your meat pasties? Eh?"

She was grinning too now, never could help herself when he got like this, but shook her head again.

"I still don't really understand. But it's good, yeah?"

The Doctor smiled brilliantly. "Oh, it's very good."

Rose nodded. “I’m glad we’re helping them.”

“Well, it’s what we do, isn’t it?” The Doctor reached for her hand and spun her around, causing Rose to laugh wildly as he began to lead her in some strange dance across the TARDIS’ floor.

“The Doctor and Rose – defenders of the Universe! Helping wherever we’re needed. Finding adventures-“

Rose jumped in “-In time and space!”

Someone cleared their throat behind them.

“Not interrupting anything, am I?”

***  



	8. Crossover Fic: Lending a Hand (8/?), Firefly/Doctor Who

**Title** : Lending a hand (8/?)  
 **Authors** : [](http://goldy-dollar.livejournal.com/profile)[**goldy_dollar**](http://goldy-dollar.livejournal.com/) and [](http://hjea.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://hjea.livejournal.com/)**hjea**  
 **Characters/Pairings** : Tenth Doctor, Rose, implied Ten/Rose, _Firefly_ crew with Mal/Inara and other canon pairings.  
 **Disclaimer** : We don’t own DW and/or _Firefly_. But we do secretly think that RTD is the evil genius offspring of Joss Whedon.  
 **Spoilers/Timeline** : Doctor Who: Post- _Fear Her_ , pre- _AoG/Doomsday_ , Firefly: post- _Serenity_  
 **Summary** : In this chapter, Mal and the Doctor begin to find some common ground, and the crew realizes they didn’t disappear quite as well as they hoped.  
 **Rating** : PG-13  
 **Words** : 2, 350

[Previous Chapters](http://community.livejournal.com/teawiles/tag/crossover)

Captain Reynolds stood with his thumbs hooked under his suspenders, his gaze slowly wandering around the control room.

“Alright, so it’s a mite bigger on the inside,” he muttered. “Give you that.”

Rose reluctantly dropped the Doctor’s hand. He took a few steps back and shoved his hands in his pockets, looking decidedly unhappy at the interruption.

Rose would have laughed, had the tension not been so thick. They both looked so alike, standing with their brows all furrowed up in suspicion, long brown coats trailing past their knees.

“Give you a tour, if you’d like,” Rose finally said, catching the Captain’s eye and smiling encouragingly. “The TARDIS has got all sorts of rooms. Don’t think I’ll ever see them all.”

“Rose,” the Doctor said warningly. In what was clearly a dismissal, he bent over to tinker with the engine, humming vaguely to himself.

Rose refrained from pointing out he was being rude, if only because she knew he was doing it on purpose.

“No, I—uh, don’t need a tour,” the Captain said. “Just… thought I’d see what everyone was all starry-eyed about. Ain’t much.”

There was a crash from underneath the console, and the Doctor yelped in pain.

Rose rolled her eyes. Honestly, like _he’d_ react any better if someone mysteriously popped up onboard the TARDIS. Probably run himself hoarse from hollering.

Besides, Captain Reynolds had been perfectly nice to her (except, of course, when he’d pointed that gun at them, but the Doctor got her into far worse trouble than that on a daily basis). And there was something about him. Reminded Rose of the Doctor when she first met him—back before he regenerated. All angry and gruff because he lost his people in the-Time-War-they-rarely-talked-about. The Doctor had just been… lonely. Thought he didn’t need anyone, but of course he did.

“You must have loads of questions,” Rose said, nodding along with her words. “I’ll just leave you two alone, then.”

The Doctor sprang up from underneath the console, looking… sulky. Well, he could sulk all he wanted. It wasn’t going to work on her. “Rose, there’s no need to—”

“Hungry, remember?” Rose said. “Sides, I’m sure the Captain here’s got an interest in knowing how it is you’re fixing up his ship. Wouldn’t like it if someone mucked about with the TARDIS, would you?”

“Yeah, not so much my area of expertise,” the Captain said. “Best be talkin’ with Kaylee when it comes to Serenity. No, I… gotta know, Doctor. This ship—it can really travel through time?”

The Doctor studied the Captain for an inordinate amount of time, and finally said, “Yes.”

“Huh.”

Rose cautiously backed away, slipping out of the TARDIS before the Doctor could call her back.

***

Hot chocolate made out of protein.

Jayne could list a whole manner of other things that sounded like more fun, including facing down a ship of hungry Reavers.

“C’mon, Jayne,” Kaylee said, “you know you wanna.”

Weren’t fair that she could get everyone on this ship to do stupid things just by smiling all prettily like so.

Well, at least she’d roped the doc (the prissy one with the fancy Core schooling, not the one just showed up in a blue box) into it, too.

And Simon was, at that moment, staring into the mug like it was liable to bite him. “Uh, Kaylee… what are…?”

“Marshmallows!” she said, leaning over Simon’s shoulder and sticking her nose in the mug. “Protein marshmallows. Ain’t that something? Shepherd Book used’ta say you could turn protein into anything, you had the right spices.”

Simon gulped. “Spices?”

“Drink up!” Kaylee said. “And I’ve got more should you be needin’ it.”

Simon and Jayne shared a horrified look, for once in total agreement.

“You’re the one she’s ruttin’!” Jayne hissed, with a that-means-you-have-to-go-first look.

Simon looked appalled by his language, but only said, “At the same time.” Jayne grunted in acquiescence. “One, two—”

“Oh, hello!” said a new voice. “You’re all still up.”

Jayne and Simon slumped in relief, and Kaylee’s attention was diverted elsewhere.

“Heya, Rose,” Kaylee said. Simon and Jayne hastily dumped out their hot chocolate under the table. “Couldn’t sleep. Ain’t every day we get time travelers on Serenity. ‘Sides, I ain’t used to sleeping when Serenity’s broke. Don’t sit right. Hot chocolate?”

Simon widened his eyes and vehemently shook his head. Rose frowned at him, but only hooked her thumbs into the loops on her jeans and said, “Sure. Love some.”

Jayne leaned back and folded his arms across his chest. Hell, this was sure to be good. He half-grinned, half-leered at Rose as she sat down.

Kaylee plopped a mug of hot chocolate down in front of Rose and then waited expectantly. Rose took a sip, a pinched look coming into her face. Simon winced in sympathy.

“S’good,” Rose managed, and Kaylee beamed. “I’ll just let it sit for a while, yeah? Nearly burned the roof of my mouth off.”

Which would be the ideal time for Jayne to lean in and offer her a drink back in his bunk. Said she was human, hadn’t she? And, hell, even she weren’t, she was cute. And there was no way that Doctor could take him on in a fight. Even if he was an alien. And talked real fast with whole string of words Jayne didn’t exactly understand.

Jayne closed his mouth. _Tzao-goa_ , there were cute girls all over the ‘verse he could pay good coin for and not have to worry about no liabilities.

Simon’s accusing glare suggested he knew what Jayne was thinking, which wasn’t overly fair. Jayne grinned.

“Kaylee, doc’d like a refill of his hot chocolate,” he said. “Done drunk the whole thing in one gulp.”

Simon’s mouth dropped in horror. “No, Kaylee-that’s not, I mean…” Simon loosened his collar, and finally said. “We should leave some for the others.”

“Got plenty,” Kaylee said, planting a kiss on his cheek and grabbing his mug for a refill.

Rose snorted into her hand.

“It can’t be that bad,” Simon protested.

“Whatever makes you feel better doc,” Jayne said, slapping him on the back.

Simon eyed him for a moment, and then said loudly, “Jayne, done already? I’ve never seen anyone polish off a drink so quickly.”

“Shut your gorram hole,” Jayne snapped. “Else you want me to shut it for you.”

Opposite them, Rose sat up suddenly, her hands clutching the mug. “Uh, guys…” she whispered.

There was something about her tone; something Jayne knew could only mean trouble. Kaylee turned around from the stove and shrieked, her hot chocolate cascading from the stove and splashing to the floor.

Jayne went straight for his gun; even knowing it was too late. He and Simon turned around, and came nose to nose with about a dozen local law officers, the sheriff standing at the head of the pack.

“I wouldn’t,” the sheriff said, nodding to Jayne’s gun. He spoke into his com. “We’ve got more in the galley.”

***

Inara was not having a good night.

Certainly, there were certain things on Serenity she’d learned… to adapt to. Life was dangerous, uncertain, with molded protein for food, and rarely enough fuel to keep warm. Yes, she accepted all those things—preferred it, in fact, to a life at one of the Guild’s finest training houses.

However, when she was roused by local law enforcement in the middle of the night, and then herded into the cargo bay at gunpoint, she wanted to find Mal and kick him. Hopefully somewhere it would hurt.

“Appears to be the last of ‘em, sir,” said one of the officers, addressing the sheriff.

It only took Inara one glance to tell it _wasn’t_ everyone. Zoe, Simon, Jayne, Kaylee, and Rose all stood with their hands up and not-quite-impassive looks on their faces, but Mal, River, and the Doctor were conspicuously absent. Provided Mal and the Doctor hadn’t killed each other yet, Inara hoped there was still a chance for a last minute rescue.

Rose’s eyes jumped nervously from the TARDIS to the officers. Zoe nudged her in the back of the foot, giving a small shake of her head.

The officers milled idly about the cargo bay, pulling out compartment and shining their flashlights into corners. Most of them completely ignored the blue phone box.

Kaylee hugged close to Simon’s side, eyebrows drawn tightly together. “River?” she mouthed. Simon shrugged, clearly trying to be strong for her, but he shot Inara a helpless look.

She raised her eyebrows slightly, but otherwise kept her face tranquil. Better not to give anything away. Stay quiet, unconcerned. _Nothing to hide. Just crash-landed, that’s all._

“There a problem, Sheriff?” Zoe finally said.

The sheriff was a large man with a bright bald spot and tiny eyes. The gun strapped to his side looked like it didn’t quite belong, and he flipped through a tiny cortex screen, not bothering to look up as he answered Zoe.

“Landed on this here piece of rock without a permit.”

“We crashed,” Zoe said. “Getting a permit weren’t exactly high up on our list of priorities.”

“Funny,” the sheriff said. “Alliance contacted us just a few hours ago. Said a ship they was trailing crashed on this very moon. Asked me and my team to check it out, bring in any survivors.”

“I see,” Zoe said. “They give any indication what sort’a trouble we’re in?”

“Didn’t ask.”

Inara made eye contact with Zoe and cleared her throat, stepping forward to play her Companion card.

“Gentlemen, please,” she said. “I’m certain there’s been some sort of error. If you’ll be so kind as to wave the Guild, they’d tell you this ship is perfectly legitimate. I’m sure you’re aware Companions only choose the best.”

“I know who you are,” the Sheriff said, glancing up from his com. “Inara Serra. You were fired for treason about a month back.” He gave a ghost of a smile. “Suppose we have the right ship, after all.”

“You was fired?” Kaylee said. “Why didn’t you say so, ‘Nara? Thought you weren’t taking on clients ‘cause of the Cap—ow!” Simon stepped on her toes, and Kaylee continued in a strained voice. “Just could’a told us, is all.”

The Sheriff barely glanced at Kaylee. Instead he studied Inara, who remained expressionless despite the heat in her cheeks. “Of course,” he drawled. “If you’d like to… mitigate your sentence, I’m sure that can be arranged.”

“Oi!” Rose burst out, seemingly forgetting all the guns pointed at them. “You keep your dirty old man paws to yourself, yeah? Bet you’ve never even had a good sha—”

“Rose,” Zoe said, warningly, one hand coming down to rest on the girl’s shoulder. “Don’t antagonize them. Trust me.”

Rose hesitated, but then pushed her mouth together in a firm line, glancing hopefully at the TARDIS again.

“Cuff ‘em,” the sheriff said, shoving his com link in his pocket. He nodded at Rose. “And make sure it hurts.”

***

Mal didn’t know how long he moved around the console room, bending over every few paces to examine something, but the Doctor left him to it, seeming content to flash his blinking screwdriver over his vidscreens and mumble to himself.

“And what exactly do you… do with a time machine?” Mal finally asked, trying very hard not to stare at anything too long. “Seems like a it’d be a mighty powerful temptation to use for your own gain.”

“I travel,” the Doctor answered, leaning back against the console. “Backwards, forwards, any planet I want. This ship is my home. The only one I’ve got left. She takes me where I need to go.”

Mal nodded; like it made perfect sense. Like the man wasn’t completely off his nut. He swallowed. “What about changing… changing history?”

The Doctor’s eyes sharpened. “My people, they had rules for that sort of thing. Strictly non-intervention. Though… I don’t suppose it matters anymore.”

“There are more like you?” Mal said. “All of ‘em, just traveling around the ‘verse in a… what is it? A public call box?”

“Nobody else, not anymore,” the Doctor said, flicking a switch on the console, and then giving Mal a strained smile. “I’m the only one left.”

Mal got a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach. “What happened?

Instead of answering, the Doctor paced around the console, speaking animatedly. “But as a rule, changing history’s not a good idea. Mucking about with personal timelines, saving the dead, small changes, little things - those are the worst. The big things, nah, don’t matter as much—saving the world from destruction, who’s going to call you out? But a personal timeline, the history of a person, just _one person_ , that’s not something you want to get in the middle of. Causes a rift in time.”

“A rift?”

“Bad,” the Doctor said. “Very bad.” He shivered. “Nearly died the last time.”

“Yeah,” Mal said, scratching at his nose. “Reckoned as much. Zoe, she…” he sighed, trailing off. “This crew’s been through its fair share of hardships, these last few months.”

“Who did she lose?”

“Husband,” Mal said, after some hesitation. “She’s strong, but she…”

The Doctor waved that away. “Hear the word ‘time machine,’ of course that’s the first thing you think about,” he said. “But I can’t help her.”

“She might not be overly partial to taking ‘no’ for an answer,” Mal said, already feeling the weight of Zoe’s grief. _Ai ya_ , he didn’t want to be the one to kill that final hope for her.

The Doctor held up one hand to silence him, a fact that made Mal more than a little ornery. He was still a guest on Mal’s ship, and a little bit of respect wouldn’t exactly be remiss.

“Do you hear that?” the Doctor said, one finger held over his lips.

Mal strained to listen, but only received ringing silence for his efforts. “Doctor, ain’t nothing there.”

“Exactly,” the Doctor said, springing up and heading towards the door. “And nothing is never good, Captain. Nothing is decidedly very _bad_. And Rose is out there.”

***  



	9. Crossover Fic: Lending a Hand (9/?), Firefly/Doctor Who

**Title** : Lending a hand (9/?)  
 **Authors** : [](http://goldy-dollar.livejournal.com/profile)[**goldy_dollar**](http://goldy-dollar.livejournal.com/) and [](http://hjea.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://hjea.livejournal.com/)**hjea**  
 **Keywords** : Ten and Rose, Firefly crew.  
 **Disclaimer** : We don’t own DW and/or _Firefly_. Please don’t sue. We are only poor university students.  
 **Spoilers/Timeline** : Doctor Who: Post- _Fear Her_ , pre- _AoG/Doomsday_ , Firefly: post- _Serenity_  
 **Summary** : If you were in jail, you’d trust the Doctor and Mal to find some way to rescue you… right?  
 **Rating** : PG-13  
 **Words** : 2, 031

**Chapter Nine**

The replay from the TARDIS’ vidscreens confirmed the Doctor’s suspicions. He propped one elbow up on the console and leaned his forehead against his arm. Arrested. By the Alliance.

_Great_ , he’d said. _Criminals. Brilliant. Let’s hop right in._

Once he got Rose out of this—and he _would_ get her out of it—he was taking her somewhere boring. Somewhere with bunny rabbits and ice cream cones. Granted, it wasn’t up to their usual standards of adventure and heroics, but at least the chance of being separated from Rose in some sort of freak bunny hostage situation was unlikely.

“Doctor.”

He looked up. The Captain’s gaze was not particularly pitying.

“If you’re finished despairing, we could review our options.”

Despairing? Had he been? Didn’t really sound like him. Disconcerting, that.

“Well,” the Doctor said, pulling himself together. “Could create a short-range electrical beam using the TARDIS. Might short-circuit all computers within a one mile radius. Of course, that’s _assuming_ they’re nearby. And on these backwater moons, might not even do us any good…”

The Captain rolled his eyes, and then strode purposefully out of the TARDIS. After a moment, the Doctor followed him.

“And I suppose you have a better plan, do you?” the Doctor said, jogging to catch up.

They stopped next to a weapon’s store, which Captain Reynolds opened and rummaged through.

“Local law enforcement ain’t exactly the slickest operation you’re likely to see,” he said. “No love lost between ‘em and the Alliance, either. Not anything worth risking lives over, that is.”

Mal handed a nasty looking gun to the Doctor, who shoved his hands in his pockets and gave him a pointed look.

Mal sighed and hooked the gun into his own belt.

“So, what?” the Doctor said. “You’re just planning on busting your way in through the front door and outgunning them?”

“Yep,” Mal said cheerfully. “Got element of surprise on our side, Doctor. Won’t be expecting us. Gives us the advantage.”

Far as plans went, it was almost better conceived than some of the things the Doctor had come up with. Certainly a step above: “Oh, I’ll just fall down this great big pit!” And possibly even more cunning than: “Running away very quickly.”

“Just one thing,” the Doctor said. “How are we planning on finding them?”

Mal blinked, and then, looking at the Doctor like he was stupid, said, “Ain’t that big a planet, Doctor. Local law enforcement most likely sittin’ there with a giant arrow pointed at it.” He sighed at the strained expression on the Doctor’s face. “What?”

“Well, that’s not very stealthy, is it? What happened to hiding hostages in a basement somewhere? Or a dungeon—dungeons are a time-honored tradition. Or a _lair_. It’s been ages since I’ve rescued someone from a lair.”

Mal rocked back on his heels. “ _Lao tyen yeh_ ,” he muttered. “Doctor, think you could maybe shut that trap of yours for ten minutes?”

“Right,” the Doctor said after a pause. “Sorry.”

They turned around and then both yelped in surprise. It was River, arms folded over her chest, her look more than a little accusing.

“ _Ai ya_ ,” Mal said. “You do frit about, little one, don’t you?”

“I hid,” River said. “I saw them coming.”

“And you didn’t reckon we could maybehap use a warning, darlin’?” Mal said.

“There would have been fighting,” River said. “People would’ve died.” She paused, and looked at the Doctor. “I’m tired of people dying.”

“Hey, whoa, ain’t no one dying, _dong ma_?” Mal said. “Gonna be a diplomatic rescue.” He handed a gun to River and added, “Coercively.”

***

The local jail had one cell with a dirty floor and rusted metal bars.

Not exactly the most secure area Rose had ever seen. Not that she’d ever been jailed before, either. She made a mental note to talk to the Doctor about avoiding criminals in the future.

On the bright side, being 500 years in the future meant she didn’t have to call her mum to come bail her out.

She could hear voices murmuring quietly just outside the cell. With her eyes and feet bound together, she had few options. She glanced at the bars and then, swallowing, painfully hopped in their direction.

Panting, she reached the bars and strained to listen.

“…there’s nothin’ there, sir.”

“How can there be nothing? That’s impossible.”

“Whatever these folk are wanted for, it’s classified. Highly classified. Ain’t getting nothing but red flags.”

“They crashed their own ship. How dangerous can they be? Alliance. Gorram Purplebellies haven’t been able to count backwards from ten since the Miranda story broke. Keep an eye on them.”

“Yes, sir.”

The two speakers dropped into silence. Rose turned around, and leaned back against the bars, breathing heavily. The others were clumped together on one side of the cell, conversing in low voices. They barely seemed to notice the dirt smearing the walls, the yellow and brown toilet in the corner.

The lot of them probably got arrested all the time.

Rose hesitated. She reckoned she had two options. She could do nothing and hope the Doctor rescued her _before_ the Alliance picked them up and carted them off to a more secure base. Or she could trust the crew and join in on the escape plan, whatever that was.

Well, it really wasn’t much of a choice, was it?

Gathering her courage, Rose hopped over to join them.

***

“Now, if you see a doorway in someone’s mind, it means they’re protecting a memory they don’t want you to see. Go around it. Like a big stop sign. Or a wall—wall, yeah, that’s it. A mental wall.”

The Doctor had to yell to be heard over the roar of the mule’s engine.

“But I can see around walls,” River said.

“Course you _can_ ,” the Doctor said. “But it’s… it’s about responsibility. People have secrets, River. Everyone’s got secrets. The mind—it’s not just… just some playground to run around in. It’s an extraordinary thing. Deserves respect.”

Despite Mal’s distrust of the Doctor, he had to admit that the idea of River having control over her psychic power was more than a little appealing.

“Captain Reynolds—” The Doctor climbed into the front seat. He took the time to fix his tie before speaking again. “Hide a memory behind a door. Any sort of memory. Doesn’t matter which.”

“Uh, Doctor, mite busy at the moment.”

He didn’t add that driving the mule was usually Zoe’s job.

“Oh, come on, it’s not that hard. Just one itty-bitty memory.”

Mal sighed. Feeling about two-years-old, Mal imagined a door blocking out all his memories of the war. For a long moment, the only noise was the hum of the mule’s engine, and the wind whipping through their hair.

The Doctor watched him carefully. When he was satisfied, he twisted his neck around to look at River. “Hmm?”

“I see them,” River said.

“And?” the Doctor prompted.

“Leaving them alone,” River said.

“Good girl,” the Doctor said, turning around and settling down again. He scratched at the back of his neck. “Blimey, am I glad that worked.”

Mal shot the Doctor a dirty look, but hastily turned back when the mule jerked over to one side.

“Mind reading’s an interesting phenomenon,” the Doctor continued. “Rare ability. Usually considered a curse. Less advanced society’s often called it witchcraft.”

“But she… she can control it,” Mal said. “With the… doors.”

“Well, as well as anyone with the power to hear human thoughts,” the Doctor mused. “But it’s important she does.”

“And why’s that?” Mal said.

“Because it will drive her mad,” the Doctor said simply. “No human brain is capable of taking in so many senses and feelings.”

Mal swallowed. Instead of answering, he pulled the mule to a stop. He climbed down, eyes studying the dusty run-down structures before them.

The Doctor hopped down next to him, frowning at the town. “How many planets are there like this?”

“Way of the Rim,” Mal said. “Out here, folk don’t got much. Have to look out for their own selves. Alliance takes their tax money and don’t give ‘em anything in return.”

The Doctor was uncharacteristically subdued. “You were there at Serenity Valley,” he stated. “I should have realized earlier. Only a soldier would name their ship after a battle they lost.”

“War was a long while ago,” Mal said.

“What? Seven, maybe eight years ago?” the Doctor said, turning to look at him. “Not so long ago. Barely a blip in time, even. Besides, people don’t name their ship after a war they’ve moved on from.”

Mal didn’t know what to say to that, so he shrugged and looked to town. “We’ll go the rest of the way on foot.”

“Right-o,” the Doctor said. “Love a brisk walk before a big fight. Helps me practice for the running away bit.”

The Doctor moved forward, but Mal called him back, speaking before he realized what he was saying.

“You were in a war,” Mal said. “And I’d wager you didn’t exactly come out on the winning side, either.”

The Doctor stopped and shoved his hands in his pockets. “Yes,” he said, without turning. “The Time War. Everyone lost. Everybody died.”

“Might be stating the obvious here,” Mal said steadily. “But you didn’t.”

The Doctor turned around, guilt and loneliness evident in his eyes.

“I’m the only one of my kind left. I’m alone.” He paused, and then pulled himself together. “ _Well_ , that’s not quite true, is it? I have my TARDIS.” His voice softened and he added, “And Rose. I have Rose.”

The Doctor shook himself, and then smiled widely. “And since I don’t intend to lose her any time soon, we have a heroic rescue to make, hmm?”

***

Aware of the guard standing just outside the cell, Rose kept her voice quiet. “Have we got a plan?”

The crew exchanged a look.

“Could wait for the Captain to come up with a rescue,” Zoe said.

They held each other’s eyes for another minute, and then let out simultaneous snickers.

“I vote for _not_ waiting for Mal,” Simon said, mouth still twitching.

“Agreed,” Zoe said. She eyed the cell, and then tilted her head slightly in the direction of the bars. “Guard will be a problem.”

“Need a diversion,” Jayne said.

“No one’s getting naked, Jayne,” Zoe said.

Jayne glanced at Rose hopefully, and she narrowed her eyes, muttering a high-pitched, “Oi!”

“If we could get him to open the cell,” Simon said. “We could take him by surprise.”

“And how are we plannin’ on doing that, doc?” Jayne said. “Head butt him to death?”

“If we could just… get our hands free…” Kaylee said, twisting her wrists. She finally gave up and slumped. “They’re too tight.”

Rose stared at them dubiously, unable to shake the suspicion they were all doomed.

“Done,” Inara said mildly, drawing their attention. She shook her hands lightly, showing them her binds had been loosened. “Companion training. We have to know how to free our hands unobtrusively.” They continued to stare at her blankly, so Inara sighed and added, “Some clients enjoy bondage. It’s not one of my specialties, but it can put Companions in a vulnerable position, so…”

“Oh,” Simon said, averting his gaze in embarrassment.

There was a general murmur of understanding from everyone else.

Rose felt her curiosity piqued. “You can… I mean, could you show me how to do that?” A hot blush spread through her cheeks when she realized what she said. “It’s just—me and the Doctor, we’re always getting into one situation or another. Could come in handy. That’s all, yeah?”

“I’ll bet,” Jayne muttered.

Inara shot him an irritated look and then turned back to Rose. “Of course.”

“If we could focus on our imminent arrest by the Alliance,” Simon said. “I think—”

“Shut up, doctor,” Jayne said. “Don’t got no problems hearin’ more about bondage.”

Kaylee elbowed Jayne in the side. “Zoe?” she said. “What d’you think we oughta do?”

Zoe nodded, voice serious. “Inara, need you to untie Jayne. He’s gonna be our diversion.”

Jayne perked up. “What sort’a diversion?”

“Just need you to be your own self.”  



	10. Crossover Fic: Lending a Hand (10/?), Firefly/Doctor Who

**Title** : Lending a hand (10/?)  
 **Authors** : [](http://goldy-dollar.livejournal.com/profile)[**goldy_dollar**](http://goldy-dollar.livejournal.com/) and [](http://hjea.livejournal.com/profile)[**hjea**](http://hjea.livejournal.com/)  
 **Keywords** : Tenth Doctor and Rose, Firefly crew.  
 **Disclaimer** : We don’t own DW and/or _Firefly_. Please don’t sue. We are only poor university students.  
 **Spoilers/Timeline** : Doctor Who: Post- _Fear Her_ , pre- _AoG/Doomsday_ , Firefly: post- _Serenity_  
 **Summary** : Everyone’s got a plan. None of them go smooth.  
 **Rating** : PG-13  
 **Word Count** : 3, 175  
 **A/N** : It’s been a while. Shameful! But we’re almost done. I think. :D  
Also, if you like the idea of Firefly/Doctor Who crossovers, you should check out the Ten/Inara ficathon over at [](http://sonic-tea.livejournal.com/profile)[**sonic_tea**](http://sonic-tea.livejournal.com/). It’ll be the most fun you’ll have this summer, I’m very certain.

([Chapter One](http://community.livejournal.com/teawiles/2964.html#cutid1))([Chapter Two](http://community.livejournal.com/teawiles/3085.html#cutid1))([Chapter Three](http://community.livejournal.com/teawiles/3509.html#cutid1))([Chapter Four](http://community.livejournal.com/teawiles/3801.html#cutid1))([Chapter Five](http://community.livejournal.com/teawiles/4038.html#cutid1))([Chapter Six](http://community.livejournal.com/teawiles/4540.html#cutid1))([Chapter Seven](http://community.livejournal.com/teawiles/5211.html#cutid1))([Chapter Eight](http://community.livejournal.com/teawiles/5611.html#cutid1)) ([Chapter Nine](http://community.livejournal.com/teawiles/7136.html#cutid1))

  
**Chapter Ten**

“It’s just… he’s an alien,” Rose said. “He doesn’t look like one, I know, but sometimes he can just be so… so…” She searched for the right word, and sat up straighter. “ _Alien_!”

Rose paused to breathe, and Inara, to her credit, merely waited quietly, focusing on Rose like her every word was important.

With retrospect, Rose realized that maybe jail wasn’t the best place to discuss her relationship with the Doctor. But there really wasn’t much else to do until Zoe gave them the signal. And, anyway, Inara was a professional. Who knew when she’d get the same chance again?

“And he never… _stops_. Not ever. Not even to breathe. I see all these crazy things, and I’ve got to keep it all inside, ‘cause who am I gonna talk to about it? And then other times…” Rose trailed off. “Other times, I almost forget that he’s not human, you know? I don’t even remember my life before I met the Doctor. Don’t much want to, either.”

Inara nodded sympathetically. “Men have a habit of being quite similar, no matter the species.”

“But he’s not!” Rose said. Jayne glanced over at them hopefully, and she dropped her voice. “I used to think that sex was part of being in a relationship, yeah? And sometimes sex was nice, and other times it wasn’t so good, but it was something you were supposed to do. But with the Doctor, it’s like… like it doesn’t matter so much.”

“You love him regardless,” Inara said.

Rose looked up, ready to deny it, but then she sagged. What would be the point? After everything they’d gone through together, it would be silly to keep up the façade.

“Yeah.”

Inara smiled. “Sex is only a physical act,” she said. “For some, it can be a powerful symbol. A symbol of bonding; unity. And… it can be enjoyable. But it doesn’t create love.”

Rose brooded over that. Finally, she nodded. “But… I want to, I think. It’s about all that stuff you said, the bonding and the unity. It’s just… it’s all so human.”

“And the Doctor isn’t,” Inara said, understanding.

“I mean, I don’t even know if he…” Rose trailed off, blushing furiously. _God_ , she didn’t even know how to say it. “I don’t know if he even _can_. I mean, what if it’s completely different?”

Inara surreptitiously placed a hand on Rose’s wrist. “Alien sex really isn’t my area of expertise, sweetie.”

Despite her anxiety, Rose laughed. “What do you think I should do?”

“I think…” Inara said. “I think you should talk to him about it.” Some of Rose’s abject horror must have shown on her face, because Inara tightened her grip on Rose’s hand. “If you trust him as much as you say you do, you have to be able to trust him with this, too.”

“I just…” Rose stuttered. “I don’t know how I’d even _begin_ that discussion.”

A sudden image of the Doctor reading aloud from a biology book on mating rituals flashed through her mind and she had to bite the inside of her cheek to hold back a hysterical laugh.

Inara opened her mouth to respond, but stopped when Zoe stood up.

The signal.

***

Simon couldn’t honestly say he was surprised that Jayne seemed to be enjoying the plan a little too much, but the leer on the big merc’s face was just a tad too convincing as he backed Simon into the cell’s corner. Simon knew he shouldn’t complain; Zoe’s idea was a smart one given their circumstances – it’d had even been Simon himself who pointed out that he was the only logical choice to act as counterpart – and yet… he had a feeling he would need a lot of ice if they ever made it back to the ship.

Jayne cleared his throat before opening his mouth, “I think you an’ me have got us a few problems, boy,” he said, voice raised dramatically. “Think you might be askin’ for a beating.”

Simon’s heels hit the wall. “Oh…is that so?”

From the other side of the cell, Simon saw Inara roll her eyes slightly and mutter something that sounded like ‘nuanced.’

Jayne didn’t wait a moment longer and swung his fist around, just grazing Simon’s temple as he ducked out of the way. Not to miss a beat, Simon punched the larger man low in the gut, letting himself enjoy the moment a little too much as well, as Jayne doubled over and groaned.

“Thought you were gonna make this easy, Doc?” Jayne hissed, low enough so only Simon could hear.

Simon grunted as the other man’s fist finally connected with his cheek. “Oh, I intend to try and make you spend as much time in the infirmary as me,” he hissed back.

Rose, Inara and Kaylee were all beginning to call out, hopefully attracting the attention of the sheriff and his men, while Zoe seemed to have melted into the cell’s shadows. Simon was somewhat gratified to see that Kaylee did look genuinely distressed, as it was becoming clear that Jayne held the obvious advantage in a fight. Still, Simon had another very enjoyable moment, getting in a lucky stomp on Jayne’s bruised foot, before a solid punch knocked him to the floor.

“Hey, what in gorram tarnation is goin’ on in there!” Two guards finally ran around the corner and noticed the commotion.

“Please, they won’t stop!” Rose shrieked very shrilly and convincingly, as another of Jayne’s fists made Simon’s brain feel like it was reverberating against the inside of his skull.

“Aw, hell.” One of the guards swore, but the two grabbed their weapons and went to open the cell door. “Now break it up—”

***

It didn’t take long.

Jayne spit on the floor as the second guard dropped like a rock from Zoe’s arms.

“Should’a killed ‘em.”

Zoe fixed him with a hard stare. “Yes, like we need to be convicted of killing on top of this whole mess.”

Kaylee ran to prop Simon up in her arms as he groaned and rubbed at his jaw. “Baby, are you going to be okay? Where does it hurt?”

Inara brushed past them hurriedly, “Not the time, you two.”

Zoe nodded, “Agreed, let’s move out, people.”

They quickly filed out, following Zoe as she led them down the jail’s short hallway.

“The sheriff and the rest of his men must have gone.” Rose whispered to Inara, as they passed the empty table that seemed to serve as the jail’s office.

The companion nodded, “Yes, probably to contact the Alliance and set up a rendezvous spot to retrieve us from in a few hours.”

Jayne snorted from behind them as he brought up their rear. “Gone and left two dumb-ass kids behind to guard their special prisoners. Yokels – can’t believe they actually left that damn cell door open. How stupid do you have to be?”

Zoe opened the front door and they all rushed outside, squinting as the low afternoon sun hit them directly in the eyes.

“God, I can’t see a thing!” Simon raised his hand, vainly trying to block out the bright light. “Does anyone remember which direction the ship was in?”

“Don’t think that’s a top priority right now.” Zoe’s voice was low and even as she turned slowly around.

“Wha-what do you mean?” Rose asked, dreading what she would see as she turned to follow the other woman’s gaze.

Ten or more soldiers, wearing uniforms and carrying rather big and nasty looking weapons, were rounding the corner of the jail, followed close behind by the sheriff and his men.

Jayne muttered something viciously in Chinese before raising his hands above his head. Although Rose couldn’t understand it, she was fairly certain it was exactly what she was feeling as well.

***

“This is… not good,” Mal muttered, nearing the jail. His people were surrounded by Alliance officers—outgunned and outnumbered. “ _Ai ya_ , just once I’d like to be able to do this the easy way.”

“Well, who says we can’t?” the Doctor said. “If I just…”

The Doctor dug around in his pockets, and River studied the situation, cocking her head thoughtfully.

Reluctantly, Mal turned to look at her. “What are you thinking?”

“I can take them,” River said quietly. “All of them. I could kill them.”

It was damn near eerie the way she said the last bit, and Mal shared a tense look with the Doctor. The Doctor shrugged, and then continued rifling through his pockets, eyebrows furrowing in concentration.

“Don’t doubt it,” Mal finally said. “But it’s risky. Don’t want any of ours getting caught in the middle, _dong ma_?”

The Doctor gave a victorious “HA!” and held up a blank piece of paper. Mal stared at him dubiously.

“And… what’s that?” Mal said.

The Doctor gave a smug smile and then wandered away without answering.

Mal sighed. “I have a bad feeling about this.”

***

The Doctor strolled casually into the crowd of Alliance officers. Four of them were trying to put cuffs on Jayne, who barred his teeth and growled in a disturbing sort of way. The Doctor had to hand it to him—if he’d been anything other than a Time Lord, he probably would have been deterred by the growl.

Rose’s entire face lit up when she saw him, and he gave her a quick once-over. Two elbows, arms, legs, eyes… all good things. He resisted the urge to wink at her, reminding himself of the virtues of subtlety.

The Alliance officers were quick to respond to him. They shifted their attentions away from the prisoners, guns coming up to point between the Doctor’s eyes.

He really didn’t know why he kept inspiring that reaction in people.

“Hello!” he said cheerfully, holding out the psychic paper. “New orders from above. You know how it is. Alliance. Always scattered about, aren’t they?”

A big man with a bald head moved forward to examine the paper, sheriff badge attached to his chest.

“You’re the commander in charge of this sector?” he said, eyeing the Doctor.

“That’s right, big fella,” said the Doctor. “Oh, I’m a… loyal Alliance servant. Following in my dad’s footsteps. Good man. Taken before his time. Tragic loss—and my mother, she never recovered, gentle soul. And _now_ , I’m all she has left in this world—”

“Commander Bond,” interrupted the Sheriff, looking up from the psychic paper.

“Does it say that?” the Doctor said. “ _Really_?” Rose coughed into her hands and the Doctor continued. “Yep. Commander Bond. That’s me.”

The Alliance officers slowly lowered their weapons, but the sheriff still looked suspicious.

“ _Anyway_ ,” said the Doctor. “Turns out, we’ve got the wrong people. Big mess. Very embarrassing. Blip in the system—probably be sorting this one out right up until U-Day. Point is—these people aren’t who we think they are.”

The Doctor was met with ten blank stares and so he gestured at the crew. “Well, let them go. You lot aren’t the brightest, are you?”

The Doctor shoved his hands in his pockets and waited. The crew of Serenity glanced at each other uncertainly, Kaylee and Simon clearly holding their breath. Rose was fighting to hold back a grin—quite unsuccessfully. He had to fight a powerful urge to close the distance between them and pull her into a happy-you’re-not-dead hug. No—mustn’t get distracted. There were important priorities to keep in mind.

First, get Rose out of Alliance custody. _Then_ hug Rose. Then take Rose into the TARDIS and take her to a safe planet with bunny rabbits. Right. He just had to keep his head.

The officers reluctantly moved forward to un-cuff Jayne. The Doctor allowed himself a few moments to feel smug, but the sheriff pulled out a small visdcreen, and looked up at the Doctor with a sneer.

“This quadrant doesn’t have a Commander Bond,” he said. The officers paused mid-step, gazes swiveling to the Doctor.

“It _doesn’t_?” said the Doctor. “Well, that is… that is news to me.”

“Somehow I doubt that,” said the Sheriff. “Shoot him.”

The Alliance officers swung their guns around, and the Doctor held out his hands. “Whoa, hold on—there’s just—I’d like to point out—”

Someone’s gun clicked, and the Doctor swallowed before continuing.

“Honestly… there’s just… there’s one thing—and I think you should realize this before you try and shoot me—you might want to consider… it might be a wise idea to—duck!”

They didn’t duck. Instead, they got Mal and River’s fist in their face for their trouble. Well, couldn’t say he didn’t _warn_ them.

That’s when the gunfight started.

The Doctor gave a pained sigh and followed his own advice. He ducked and landed hard, swallowing a mouthful of dirt.

He looked up to watch River dance into the middle of the Alliance pack. It was mesmerizing. No human should be able to do that. Whatever the Alliance had done to her, she was never going to make a full recovery, never.

“Doctor!”

Rose. _Right_. Priorities.

He crawled forward, coughing up dust from the desert floor. He scrambled around in his pockets, searching for the sonic screwdriver.

“Aha,” he said, ducking down again as a bullet flew overhead.

He reached the crew. They were crouched down to the ground, bound hands held out in front of their heads.

“I’m coming, hold your horses,” the Doctor mumbled. “Hold out your hands, will you?”

He released Jayne and Zoe first, and they charged forward to join the fight without even bothering to grunt their thanks.

“They do this all the time,” Kaylee said in a tone that was probably supposed to be reassuring.

The Doctor forced a grim smile, and held the sonic up to her cuffs. They snapped off. He moved onto Simon and Inara. Finally, he made it to Rose.

She grinned and held out her hands. “You have Pierce Brosnan envy,” she crowed. “Time machine isn’t good enough for you, is it? Need to be a double-oh-seven, license to kill.”

“Come on, Rose,” he said. “Who do you think inspired the original novels?”

Her smile slipped. “You’re not serious,” she said. “Shut up. You’re joking.”

He raised his eyebrows in a mysterious kind of way. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” Rose said, rubbing her wrists.

She moved forward to hug him, but he grabbed her arm and pulled her down as another wave of bullets swept over their heads.

“What do we do?” Rose asked.

“Nothing,” said the Doctor. “Not our place. These are human beings, Rose. Besides—” the Doctor glanced at River, who was clearly winning. Most of the Alliance officers were either passed out on the ground or running away. “—I really don’t think they need us.”

“Except,” Rose said, familiar twinkling in her eyes. “There _is_ that big nasty looking communicator device sitting over there. Be unfortunate for us if someone were to use that to call for back-up, don’t you think?”

Her gaze moved from his eyes to the sonic screwdriver.

“Well… I suppose I could…” he started. “Intervene—just this once, as it is a life or death situation.”

Rose nodded in a solemn kind of way.

The Doctor grinned. He squeezed her hand once and then released it. “Be right back.”

***

Simon slammed his fist into one of the last remaining officers, unable to contain his small thrill of pleasure. He resisted a smug “Ha! Take that!” if only because he was still a doctor, and such gloating would clearly be a violation of the solemnity of his profession.

Mal and Zoe were tying up the officers that were still conscious, the Doctor was busy dissembling the sheriff’s communicator, and Kaylee was fretting over River. All in all, Simon thought, as he stretched his back—things could have gone worse.

He’d barely finished the thought when one of the downed Alliance officers pushed himself to his knees, hand scrabbling for his gun.

“Look out!” Simon hollered, but it was too late. The officer fired.

Rose turned, and then rocked backwards in shock before dropping to the ground.

“ROSE!”

The Doctor’s feet scrambled to gain purchase on the loose dirt as he tried to reach her, but Inara was closer. She dropped to her knees beside the still girl and leaned over her face, cheek turned close to Rose’s mouth.

The Doctor ran the few extra steps. “Rose! Is she…?”

Inara turned bloodshot eyes to him. “She’s alive, breathing.”

Jayne quickly knocked the last soldier out with one solid punch and snatched the weapon out of his hands.

“Gorram sonofabitch,” he spat, “All his buddies either run off or unconscious and he takes a last pot shot at an unarmed girl.”

The Doctor whipped around, murderous gaze on the now unconscious soldier. Out of the corner of his eye, Simon saw Mal move forward, hand twitching over his gun-belt.

Inara grabbed the Doctor’s hand. “Don’t,” she said. “He didn’t mean to shoot her. It could have been any of us.”

“If she lives,” said the Doctor, tearing his gaze away from the soldier. “So can he.”

Inara gave a small nod, and Mal seemed to accept that because he relaxed and fell into place next to Zoe.

Simon finally reached Rose’s side, still limping gingerly from his own bruises. He glanced at the weapon balanced in Jayne’s arms. “That’s not like any blast weapon I’ve ever seen.”

Jayne shook his head and shrugged. “Me neither.”

Simon reached over and lifted the hem of Rose’s shirt up to reveal the bruise already spreading across her middle. Kaylee and Inara sucked in their breaths, wincing as Simon revealed angry purple and green marks up to the bottom of her ribcage.

The Doctor swore as well, waving his blinking instrument over Rose’s body with one of his hands, while the other was clutched tightly around hers. “Might just as well of arranged her insides. Is that what your Alliance is all about? Create cruel weapons to shoot at unarmed bystanders?”

“Apparently.” Simon’s eyes swept over the disheveled crew, barely glancing at River who was still breathing heavily from the fight, to land on Mal and Zoe who were hanging back out of the way.

“Captain, we need to get her to the infirmary as soon as possible.”

Mal nodded, “I’ll get the mule.”

“Jayne,” Simon looked back again at the merc. “Could you help lift her up?”

Without a word, the Doctor gathered Rose into his arms, ignoring Jayne as he walked towards the mule. Looking down, he noticed her eyelids fluttering, and with a whimper, she slowly opened one eye.

“Doctor?”

He smiled down at her, wide as possible. “Hello.”

She winced. “Ow.”

He laughed, more relieved than anything to hear her talking.

“Doctor?”

Gently as possible, he lifted her up into the mule, Mal and Zoe’s hands appearing on either side to help settle her in.

“Tell my Mum-“

“-Hush now,” he cut her off as he leapt deftly into the seat beside her. “You’re not going anywhere.”  



	11. Crossover Fic: Lending a Hand (11/12), Firefly/Doctor Who

**Title** : Lending a hand (11/12)  
 **Authors** : [](http://goldy-dollar.livejournal.com/profile)[**goldy_dollar**](http://goldy-dollar.livejournal.com/) and [](http://hjea.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://hjea.livejournal.com/)**hjea**  
 **Keywords/Pairings** : Tenth Doctor and Rose, Ten/Rose, Firefly crew, Mal/Inara.  
 **Disclaimer** : We don’t own DW and/or _Firefly_. Please don’t sue. We are only poor university students.  
 **Spoilers/Timeline** : Doctor Who: Post- _Fear Her_ , pre- _AoG/Doomsday_ , Firefly: post- _Serenity_  
 **Summary** : Ten fixes a sink. Simon fixes Rose. Inara fixes Mal. And everyone lives happily-ever-after. Maybe.  
 **Rating** : PG-13  
 **Word Count** : 2, 614  
 **A/N** : One chapter to go! This one is a little on the shippy side. Hey. They deserve it. :D  


**Chapter Eleven**

Mal watched the Doctor carefully.

He did not seem capable of sitting still. He rolled a pencil down the galley table, eyes peering over the edge to study the slope. After a pause, he bent over to fix the table’s legs with his blinking screwdriver. Then he moved to the cabinets, pushing up his glasses to study the broken pieces of china left behind by Serenity’s crash.

Mal rolled his eyes and decided to let him be. If this is what the Doctor needed to do to settle his nerves, Mal was not going to be the one to get in the way.

The rest of the crew appeared to be no worse for their stint in jail. Kaylee even got them flying again, and they were currently putting as much distance between themselves and that planet as possible.

 _Not that it mattered_ , Mal thought. Alliance was bound to keep coming.

“Mal.”

He looked up. It was Inara, gentle smile on her face. She looked proud of him.

“Hey,” he said. She was wearing a simple shirt and he noticed—a pair of loose fitting trousers. “Guess we ain’t been near your sort of world lately, huh?”

Her smile slipped. “No, we haven’t. But that’s… that’s fine.”

“That’s new.”

She gave him a pointed look. “Not that new,” she said, in a voice that intimated he hadn’t been paying close attention recently.

He decided to change the subject. “How’s she doing? Rose?”

“You know Simon,” said Inara. “I suspect she’ll be fine.”

Mal released a breath. “Good. That’s… good.”

He chanced a look behind him at the Doctor, who was on his back under the sink, evidently fixing the leak that had been plaguing them since the last time Serenity crashed.

Mal shook his head. “He keeps that up, ain’t going to be anything left for me to pay Kaylee to do.” Inara gave him a knowing smirk. “What?”

“Oh, nothing,” she said. “It’s just… you’ve known these people for only a day or so, and you already feel responsible for them.”

“Hey,” Mal said, not entirely certain _why_ he was indignant. “Rose getting shot—that’s on account of us, _dong ma_? She’s just a kid. Got nothing to do with the Alliance.”

“You don’t have to defend yourself, Mal,” she said. “It’s who you are.”

“Yeah?” he said smugly. “That a compliment?”

She rolled her eyes. “This time.”

“How about you?” Mal said, looking her up and down. “First time in an Alliance jail. Don’t imagine this is the sort’a thing you signed up for.”

“Please,” Inara said. “Petty theft? Fighting for our lives? What do you think I was expecting?”

“Yeah, well,” he said. “Ain’t likely to change anytime soon. They keep coming. The Alliance. And it ain’t ever going to stop. _That’s_ this life. We keep on... running until Alliance finally catches up to us.”

Her face softened, and she moved closer. Close enough so that when she raised her eyes to meet his, he had trouble breathing.

“What’s…” he trailed off and cleared his throat quite vehemently. “You’re…”

“I’m fairly certain,” she said, “if there’s anyone who could stubbornly elude the Alliance, it’d be you.”

“Huh,” he said.

“Of course,” Inara continued. “You do have an uncanny ability to irritate everyone you meet.”

“Yeah,” Mal said. “Personality flaw.”

“Hmm,” Inara agreed, but she didn’t look annoyed—far from it.

And she _was_ standing all close to him like that.

Someone cleared their throat. Mal turned around to find the Doctor scratching the at the back of his neck.

“Um, hello,” said the Doctor. “Didn’t mean to interrupt.” He settled his gaze on Inara and turned serious. “How’s Rose?”

“Resting,” Inara said. “She’s… very strong.”

“Yes,” he said. And then he stood there, for once not seeming to know what to say.

“Could go and sit with her,” Mal said, and the Doctor’s gaze slowly drifted over to him. “You know, if you’re done patching up our kitchen.”

“I’m sure she’d like that,” Inara said.

The Doctor jammed his hands in his pockets and jerked his head. “That way?”

Mal nodded. The Doctor started off, but then stopped and turned back. “We’ll be on our way… soon as she’s awake. We’ll be off. Back in the TARDIS.”

Mal raised his eyebrows. “Fine.”

“Right,” said the Doctor. He turned, and then stopped again. “Not that…” his voice quieted. “Thank you, I should say. You didn’t have to help her, but you did.”

Mal held his gaze. “Yes, we did.”

The Doctor gave a slow nod, approving smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. He turned and started off again.

Mal watched him go. “He’s… a strange sort of person.”

Inara nodded. “Yes. Though this ship does seem to attract the sort.”

Mal allowed himself a brief chuckle. “Yeah, I’d have a hard time arguing with you on that.”

“You? Have a hard time arguing?” Inara raised both her eyebrows in mock surprise, and rested a hand on her hip, bunching her rather thin shirt, Mal couldn’t help but noticing, in an interesting and… alluring way.

He shook his head, just slightly, and then realized that Inara was waiting for him to respond, probably with some kind of biting remark of his own. Unfortunately, his brain let him down for once, so absorbed as it was in trying to follow the gently sweeping lines of Inara without her noticing.

Mal shrugged. “Um… yep.” He said lamely. Inara’s mouth twisted into something suspiciously smirk-like.

There was a brief pause, not wholly awkward, as Mal tore his eyes away from Inara and swept over the work that the Doctor had done in the room. He had to admit that it looked pretty good. Definitely a vast improvement from the chaos the crash had left and probably a sight better than it had been before, even.

“Mal?”

“Hmm?” He turned back to face Inara, and noticed that her smirk had been replaced by… something else. A gaze he wouldn’t mind being on the receiving end of more often.

She smiled gently and leaned forward even closer. “It’s been a long day, hasn’t it?”

He nodded, wondering where she was going with this. “That it has. Some new adventures for all of us.”

“And Serenity’s fine? There’s nothing else to do for tonight?”

Mal shook his head. “Nothing urgent I can think of that can’t wait ‘til morning.”

“Well then, if you don’t mind, I think I might retire to my shuttle.”

Mal shrugged again. “S’your choice Inara. I wouldn’t fault you for getting some shut-eye after a day like this.”

“Well…” Inara’s gaze dropped to the floor, and then slowly lifted until she was looking up at him through her lashes. “I’m not sure if I’ll fall asleep right away.”

Something clicked into place in Mal’s brain. He finally understood.

“Understandable.” Mal smiled back at her and leaned forward. “How about I join you for a bit? We could talk… more about the exciting things we learned today”

Inara pretended to consider it for a moment before nodding. “Yes, that would be lovely – if you don’t mind the late hour.”

“Not at all.” Mal smirked. “Maybe you could make me some tea.”

Inara blinked once but then smiled right back up at him.

***

As she led him to her shuttle, Mal reached out and just barely brushed the inside of her wrist. Inara didn’t look back, but her warm hand slipped into his own, tugging him to come along.

***

The first thing Rose saw when she opened her eyes was the Doctor rearranging the infirmary’s medicine cabinets. She had to blink twice, certain she was imagining things—but, no, he was still there.

“Doctor?”

It felt like there was a lump of coal lodged in her throat and she swallowed hard before trying again.

“Uh, Doctor… what are you doing?”

He spun around, syringe held incriminatingly in his hands. “Rose!” he said, grinning. “You’re awake.”

He blinked down at the syringe in his hands as if surprised to find it there—and then shrugged and tossed it over his shoulder. Rose winced at the ensuing crash.

He moved forward and then stopped. “No, wait, I should get the doctor—not me, mind you, the other one—oh, you know who I mean.”

He looked so torn that Rose smiled, propping herself up on her elbows as far as possible. “Nah, think I’ll live.”

That was as much encouragement as he needed. He was by her side in an instant, drawing her into a fierce, bone crushing hug.

She let out a muffled “oof” and he loosened his grip, but held onto her. Small pains shot up and down her side, but she smiled into his shoulder.

He pulled away, but leaned down close to her. “How are you feeling?”

“Better now,” she said. “Bit sore, I suppose.”

He pointed to her stomach. “There?”

She nodded. “Yep.”

He dug around in his pockets for the sonic screwdriver, emerging with it with a vague, “Aha!’

He fumbled with the settings and then he moved it over the body, watching her face closely. “Hmm? What about now?”

A pleasant warmth shot through her belly, and she bit her lip to hold down her smile. “Show-off.”

“Time Lord.”

“What, that makes it okay, then?”

The Doctor hmmed vaguely to himself, and changed the settings on the screwdriver. He continued moving it up and down her body, frowning deeply. Rose felt oddly calm, despite the circumstances.

She caught the Doctor’s eyes and smiled. “I got shot.”

He raised his eyebrows slightly, but didn’t answer.

“Never been shot before,” Rose continued. “Had my face sucked out once, though. Remember that?”

“Yes,” said the Doctor evenly. “And that— _that_ I understand. Aliens I can handle. But people? Idiots. _Amateurs_ —putting guns in the hands of people who think that makes them god.”

“He didn’t mean to shoot me,” Rose said. “Just… just happened, is all.”

The Doctor shut off the screwdriver and said tersely, “He’s lucky he didn’t kill you. If I’d lost you, I…”

“Don’t say that,” Rose said gently. “Doctor… everything turned out okay in the end, didn’t it?”

He stared at her for a moment, and then said, “Lift your shirt.”

Rose sighed and complied. She wiggled slightly as he bent over to inspect Simon’s handiwork. There was a thick line of gauze wrapped around her stomach, but Rose suspected she would be sporting a nasty looking bruise for a while at least.

The Doctor turned on the sonic screwdriver again. “It doesn’t make sense.”

“What doesn’t?” Rose said.

“This blast—it wasn’t _meant_ to kill you.”

“Well, that’s good, yeah?” Rose said. She pushed her shirt back down, and then said, “No, hang on… they thought I was part of the crew.”

“Which means they wanted them alive,” the Doctor said. “Very much alive, if my readings are correct, and they usually are. What does the Alliance want with a small crew of petty criminals? Hardly even worth a basic police raid, are they?”

“Hold on—” Rose said, attempting to sit up straighter and wincing. “Back in town, when I was in jail, I heard the guards talking. They said… something about the Alliance—that they haven’t been the same. Not since… Miranda.”

She saw understanding dawn in the Doctor’s eyes. “Yes,” he whispered. “ _No_ , no, no, no—it can’t be.”

“What?” Rose said. “What is it?”

“But it all makes sense now,” the Doctor whispered. “Everything—why the TARDIS would choose _them_. Don’t you see who they are?”

“Uh,” Rose said. “From twenty-first century, me. Remember? Not exactly up on all my future history. ‘Cause it’s the _future_.”

The Doctor got that vaguely irritated look he sometimes got when he realized she couldn’t recite string theory aloud.

“Well, are you gonna tell me or what?” Rose said. “Who are they?”

“They started the _revolution_ , Rose,” the Doctor said. “The start of the first Great and Bountiful Human Empire. End of the Alliance, dawn of a new era. Casting off the chains and looking forward to a freer, more inclusive future.” The Doctor paused. “ _Well_ , when I say freer, I do mean in the future. Reckon this lot won’t even be around to see it change, but they _started_ it, Rose. Unintentionally, maybe. But that’s how history works. One single, simple event can affect millions.”

“Well, that’s great!” Rose said. “So what’d they do?”

“Either they… rescued someone called Miranda, or revealed something about her,” the Doctor said, scratching his chin. “No, that’s not right. When was the last time I was even in this century?” He scratched his chin. “Fifth incarnation—no, third? Blimey, gets to be a blur sometimes. What’s your name again?”

She rolled her eyes. “You could _ask_ them.”

“What?” said the Doctor, stung at her insinuation that he might be rusty on his history. “It’ll come to me. Just… just give me a moment.”

Rose muffled a yawn. “Could’ve been a dog, for all I know.”

“A _dog_!” the Doctor said. Then he shook his head. “No, that doesn’t sound right.”

They turned at the sound of footsteps, and Simon entered the infirmary. He shot the Doctor an accusing look when he saw that Rose was awake.

“You should have called me immediately.”

“Well,” said the Doctor, scratching at the back of his neck. “I checked her over with the sonic screwdriver. She was… I was…”

He was distracted by River, who glided in behind her brother and was busy mouthing words at him.

“What? Scuba-diving… cross-country skiing… canoeing in the Arctic—” River stopped and rolled her eyes at him. “ _Oh_!” said the Doctor. “A _planet_! A planet—that’s right.”

“A planet?” said Rose, as Simon stuck a thermometer in her mouth. She resisted the urge to gag.

“You know,” said the Doctor, gesturing vaguely. “That… thing that we were just discussing.”

“Oomf,” Rose mumbled around the thermometer.

The Doctor pondered his newest piece of information quietly. “Brilliant. Well, completely stupid, I should say, but still brilliant.” He nodded. “I ought to find the Captain and hug him.”

Rose spat out the thermometer. “Uh, Doctor, I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”

“Yeah,” said Simon. “Mal’s not really—I mean, he’d likely punch you.”

The Doctor looked wounded, but then he perked up. “In that case, I suppose me and the sonic could have a bit of a look at the Alliance database.” He dug out the screwdriver and twirled it around in one hand. “What do you say, Doctor Tam? Tired of being a fugitive?”

“You can do that?” said Rose. “But won’t it—I dunno, mess up their personal timeline?”

“No,” said the Doctor. He paused. “Probably not. Maybe. You know what? Doesn’t matter. Where’s Kaylee?”

Simon looked a little stunned. “Um—bridge, I think,” he said. “But you can do that? Make it so… River and I are no longer fugitives?”

“Yep,” said the Doctor. “Wipe the entire system clear. No mention of any ship named Serenity.”

“Well, that would be… I mean, that would…” Simon trailed off, and made a show of studying Rose’s thermometer.

“He’s trying to say ‘thank you,’” River supplied. She idly rifled through the mess the Doctor had left behind when he rummaged through Simon’s cabinets.

Rose grinned and leaned over Simon’s shoulder. “How do I look, doc?”

“You’re fine,” said the Doctor cheerfully. Simon shot him a look. “Oh, right, sorry. Not me.”

Simon swallowed and said, “You’re fine.”

“Excellent,” said the Doctor. He bounded over to Rose and leaned down to give her a chaste kiss on the forehead. “Get some rest. I’ll see you soon.”  



	12. Crossover Fic: Lending a Hand (12/12), Firefly/Doctor Who

**Title** : Lending a Hand (12/12)  
 **Authors** : [](http://goldy-dollar.livejournal.com/profile)[**goldy_dollar**](http://goldy-dollar.livejournal.com/) and [](http://hjea.livejournal.com/profile)[**hjea**](http://hjea.livejournal.com/)  
 **Disclaimer** : DW and Firefly does not belong to us. Please don’t sue. We are only poor university students.  
 **Keywords** : Tenth Doctor, Rose, Ten/Rose, Firefly crew, Mal/Inara  
 **Summary** : Ten does some jiggery pokery, Mal frets like an overbearing mother bee, and everything ends smashingly - provided there are no more life and death situations.  
 **Spoilers/Timeline** : Doctor Who: Post- _Fear Her_ , pre- _AoG/Doomsday_ , Firefly: post- _Serenity_  
 **Word Count** : 3, 056  
 **Rating** : PG  
 **A/N** : Well, this is it. I know I’ve had a _great_ time writing this. Huge thanks to [](http://hjea.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://hjea.livejournal.com/)**hjea** for agreeing to do this with me. Hope you’ve enjoyed this as much as we have. :D  


  
**Chapter 12**

Mal closed the shuttle door behind him as quietly as possible and then stuck his head out over the catwalk, checking to see if the Doctor was hovering around his TARDIS. He wasn’t, but Mal was surprised to see that Zoe was down in the cargo bay instead, sitting on the bottom step, eyes trained calmly on that blue box.

Slowly, Mal walked down the steps to where she was sitting and, with a sigh, lowered himself onto the step above her.

“It was never going to work, was it?”

Zoe didn’t turn around. Her question seemed aimed more at the Doctor’s ship than at Mal himself, but he felt he owed her the answer.

“No. It wouldn’t work. Doctor said… well, don’t rightly understand what he said, but it didn’t sound good. Wash is dead and…”

“Yes, I know he’s dead.” Zoe’s hands gripped the stair’s railing as she pulled herself up and turned to face Mal. She offered him a tight-lipped smile. “It just feels like some sort’a cruel cosmic joke that here we got a time machine, but we can’t do anything… anything worth doing.”

Unsure what to say, Mal just nodded.

Zoe looked away, back to the other ship. “Our visitors off tomorrow?”

“I believe that’s their plan.”

“Well, then,” Zoe wiped her hands against her pants and then, as if unsure what to do with them, let them hover over her hips before she finally settled on crossing them over her chest. “I’ll be here to wish them well.” She started up the stairs. “Night, Captain.”

Mal stood up and turned. “Night, Zoe.”

When she reached the top, Zoe turned to look down at him. “And say goodnight to Inara for me, too.”

***

Mal wasn’t entirely certain what possessed him to go down to the infirmary instead of heading back to the shuttle.

The thing was, Inara wasn’t entirely wrong. The Doctor and Rose may have been strangers, but he still felt responsible for them. And it all came down to the same thing—it wasn’t right what happened to Rose. Not when it was his people the Alliance was aiming for.

He entered the infirmary to find Rose trying to hobble her way across the room, one hand braced on the counter to support her weight.

He cleared his throat. “Want some help?”

Rose’s look implied he might lose a hand if he tried. “Nah,” she said. “I’m fine.”

“Sure,” Mal said, wincing at her pained shuffles. “Really… got the hang of that.”

She stopped to take a breather and then regarded him uncertainly. “Is everything okay? Is the Doctor…?”

“No, nothing like that,” Mal said. “I—uh, how are you feeling? Simon patch you up?”

“Yeah,” Rose said, leaning back against the counter. “Reckon I’ll be good as new, few days time.”

“Glad I’m paying him for something.” He scratched at his chin and then found himself trying to explain. “Weren’t right,” he said. “Alliance was targetin’ me and mine. Had no business with you.”

Rose shrugged. “Me and the Doctor, we get in all sorts of trouble all the time, yeah? I knew the risks when I chose to travel with him.”

Mal didn’t doubt it. “Don’t seem like the safest way to see the ‘verse.” He was surprised at the concern in his voice. “True, this ship’s seen more’n its fair share of trouble, but we don’t go looking for it. Not like you and the Doctor do.”

Rose flushed and looked away. “That’s who he is.” She paused, and then added. “I used to work in a shop. But with the Doctor, I—we’re just so… we’re happy. There’s nothing wrong with that. At least, there shouldn’t be.”

“I get it,” Mal said. “Girl like you, probably like being handed all the riches of the world on a silver platter. And he ain’t exactly what you’d call bad looking—even if I’m prettier, _dong ma_?”

Rose cracked a smile. “He needs me,” she said. “His planet’s gone, you know. But he’s not on his own. ‘Cause he’s got me. And I’m not ever going to leave him.”

“Huh,” Mal said. He didn’t point out that ‘not ever’ was a great deal of time. “How old are you?”

“I don’t… time passes differently on the TARDIS.” She bit her lip and thought about it. She finally settled on, “Twenty.”

Younger than Kaylee. Only a couple of years older than River. The thought hit him hard. How was anyone that age supposed to know what they’d want for the rest of their life?

“And the Doctor…?”

Rose held his gaze and said, “Don’t know, exactly. More than nine-hundred.”

“Of course he is,” Mal said. “And that sort’a age gap ain’t a problem?”

“Well, he doesn’t look it, does it?” Rose said. “He doesn’t look any older than you.”

Mal didn’t point out that, as far as he concerned, _he_ was far too old for her. “No,” he admitted. “So he don’t… age? Ever?”

“It doesn’t work that way,” Rose said. “It’s—he does this thing—you know what? Never mind. It’s not important.”

“Right,” Mal said. He didn’t know what else to say. “Just… do me a favour. Take care of yourself.”

Rose looked like she might protest but then she nodded. She pushed off the counter and took a few steps forwards.

“And…” Mal started again. “Try’n avoid getting shot again.”

She grinned. “Believe me, learned my lesson there.”

***

Kaylee leaned over the Doctor’s shoulder, wide eyes zinging back and forth over the screen. As best she could figure, it’d only taken him seconds to hack into the Alliance’s mainframe, and he was busy wiping out any mention of them and Serenity.

“Didn’t figure it were possible,” she said. “How can something _do_ that? Don’t make no sense.”

“It’s… sonic,” said the Doctor. “It’s a sonic screwdriver. And… I’m very good.”

“That ain’t much of an explanation,” Kaylee said. “It’s sort’a like… magic.”

“There’s no such thing as magic,” said the Doctor, hitting the screen with one fist. Kaylee jumped and shot him an accusing look. “Sorry.”

Kaylee held her breath, worried that she might break his concentration if she asked any more questions.

“I think we’ve got it,” said the Doctor. “Just need to…” He stood up, pushing the screwdriver against the screen. “Yes, there we go—that’s it.”

Words flashed across the screen too quickly for Kaylee to catch. She blinked.

“And after you do this… we won’t be fugitives no more?” she said.

“ _Well_ ,” said the Doctor. “Not until the next time you lot get caught for petty thieving—”

“—oh, we ain’t—I mean, we don’t…” she trailed off and sighed. It seemed very important that the Doctor didn’t think poorly of them. “We’re not bad folk.”

“Never said you were,” said the Doctor gently. “But if you get caught again, there’s nothing I can do about it, Kaylee. I’ll be a long way from here.”

She nodded, feeling morose at the thought. “Are we ever gonna see you again?”

“If I’m lucky,” said the Doctor. Something caught in his eye, and he bent down, reaching under the console. “Do these belong to you?”

He emerged with a pair of 3D eyeglasses she’d found at a market place on the last planet they’d been at. They must have fallen underneath the console after Serenity crash-landed.

“Yeah,” said Kaylee. “Bought ‘em from a real nice man on Persephone. Didn’t cost too much coin and I thought they was pretty. Why?”

The Doctor tried them on, experimentally glancing down at his hand. He sucked in a sharp breath, and ripped them off.

Kaylee frowned. “Doctor?”

“Nothing,” he said, but he put them on again and flexed his hand in front of his face before taking them off and studying them.

Kaylee smiled at his poor attempts at being discrete. “Keep ‘em,” she said.

He looked up. “Sorry?”

“Keep ‘em,” she repeated. “As… thanks for helping us. Don’t really need ‘em for anything. Just a bit of fun, was all.”

“Thank you,” said the Doctor absently, still staring at the glasses like they were prone to bite his hand off.

“Doctor?”

At Rose’s voice, the Doctor hastily folded the glasses and shoved him in his pocket. He turned around, warm smile on his face.

“Hello,” he said. “Look at you.” He inspected her up and down. “No lingering side-effects, and I _think_ you’ve still got both arms.”

“Oh, shut up,” said Rose.

“Heya, Rose,” Kaylee said, grinning.

Rose waved at her. “How’d it go?”

“Fixed us right up,” said Kaylee. “Never seen nothing like it. Alliance won’t even know what happened.”

“I’d say, team TARDIS is up one today, what do you think?” said the Doctor. “Come here, I want to show you something.”

“What is it?” Rose said, moving to stand beside him.

He pointed towards the cockpit window. “Look, up there, what do you see?”

Rose chanced a glance at his profile. He was serious. She followed his finger. “The… stars, I suppose.”

“Yeah,” said the Doctor, stuffing his hands in his pockets. “That’s the one thing the TARDIS doesn’t have. A view of the stars.”

“It’s beautiful,” Rose said. “Like… it’s all around us. Like you’re living right inside it.”

The Doctor nodded approvingly, but he was watching Rose’s face.

Rose blushed under his stare. “What is it?”

“Nothing,” he said. He turned back to the cockpit window.

Rose nudged his arm, obviously not fooled. “Hey, I’m fine. Gonna take more than some sort of new age weapon-thing to take me out, yeah?”

“Yeah,” said the Doctor. They smiled at each other and then joined hands.

Kaylee felt like she’d disappeared into thin air. Humming loudly, she dropped down under the console to finish up the repairs. Neither of them noticed.

**

Mal walked into the cargo bay to find the doors to the TARDIS hanging open and the Doctor wandering around it and mumbling to himself.

“Ah, Captain!” he said, catching sight of Mal. “Just the person I was hoping to see. Best we shove off.” He paused and then grinned, “Good news is, you and your crew are safely off the Alliance record-books. Fugitives no longer. Well, not for another day or so. Just try and stay out of trouble.” He paused, frowning deeply. “I really just said that, didn’t I? _Anyway_ , been fun, hasn’t it? Hope to see you again one day.”

Mal eyed the blue wooden box sitting in his cargo bay. “Reckon you’ll have more control over that than me,” he said. He suspected the Doctor wasn’t a man to come back and visit once he took off. “Thank you,” he continued. “Appreciate what you’ve done for me and mine.”

“Nah,” said the Doctor. “Just a bit of a flick of the sonic screwdriver, was all. I have a feeling you would have found a way through with or without me. It’s quite a crew—family, I should say, that you’ve built yourself.” He paused. “You’re lucky.”

He looked away and Mal felt uncomfortable at the sudden silence. He cleared his throat and gestured to the TARDIS. “And it actually… flies?”

The Doctor perked up at the reference to his ship and he gave it a small pat. “Yep,” he said. “Does this sort of… dematerialising and rematerializing thing. It’s… Time Lord.”

The Doctor said ‘Time Lord’ like it ought to explain everything.

“Well…” Mal said. “That’s… mighty interesting.”

“Doctor—” Rose’s voice echoed from inside the ship and she popped out a moment later, a backpack slung over one shoulder. She seemed hesitant.

The Doctor looked at her, apprehension dawning on his face. “No.”

“Oh, come on,” she said. “We haven’t been back in ages.”

“Yes! Yes! Yes, we have,” said the Doctor. “I remember because every time I’m over, your mother tries shoving the entire contents of her fridge down my gorge! Like I’m some sort of rubbish bin!”

Rose rolled her eyes. “It’s only ‘cause you’re so thin,” she said. “She’s just… trying to show she cares. ‘Sides, look at all the laundry I have to do.”

Rose heaved the backpack off her shoulder and it hit the grating of the TARDIS with a dull thud.

“I do have a washing machine _in_ the TARDIS, you know,” he said. “What, you think you’re the only person who needs clean under—”

“She _likes_ doing it,” Rose said. “Makes her feel useful. It’ll only be for a few hours—days, at most.”

“Days?” he mouthed, abject horror on his face.

Rose leaned against the doorjamb and widened her eyes. The Doctor opened his mouth and tried very hard to stare at the ceiling.

It was obviously a losing battle.

A few moments later, he muttered, “Fine. Soon as we say good-bye to this lot, we’ll pop in to see Jackie.”

Rose beamed. “Won’t be that bad,” she said. “I promise.”

She disappeared into the TARDIS again.

Mal shook his head. “Doctor, I seen my share of sad sights in this world, but that there’s gotta be among the most pathetic.”

The Doctor considered. “Yeah,” he finally said, but he didn’t sound upset.

***

The Doctor’s goodbye was a quick “thanks” and a wave of his hand before he fled into the TARDIS, shutting the doors behind him. Rose supposed she should just be thankful that he wouldn’t take off without her.

After 900 years of goodbyes… well, Rose could understand, even if she didn’t like it. Mostly, she told herself he wouldn’t do it to her.

She faced the crew. Kaylee had her hand in Simon’s and sniffed audibly. River stood next to them, knowing smile on her face. Mal and Inara stood together, their arms folded across their chests in nearly identical poses. Jayne’s lips were twitching in a valiant effort not to cry. Zoe stood partly away from all of them, expression giving nothing away.

Rose went to Jayne first. She held out her hand. “You’re not so bad, you know,” she said. “Guns and all. Not as scary as you think you are.”

Jayne scowled, “You take that back.”

“Nope,” Rose said, eyes twinkling.

She moved onto Zoe. Rose hesitated and then leaned in to hug her. Zoe stood stiffly in her arms.

“I’m really, really sorry about your husband,” Rose whispered. “I wish there was something we could do, but we can’t. Had the same thought as you once. Nearly destroyed the entire universe trying to bring my dad back. He wouldn’t want that.”

Zoe returned her hug and then pulled back. She walked away without a word.

Rose swallowed and then turned around. Inara and Mal looked sympathetic, so she moved to them next.

“Best of luck, both of you,” she said. “I reckon you’re really great together.”

Inara and Mal looked at each other, both of them fighting down smiles.

“Yeah,” Jayne muttered. “Real good. If they don’t go and tear this ship apart with their arguing!”

“Ignore him,” Inara said, leaning forward to hug Rose. She smelled spicy, a little like cinnamon. “I wish we’d had more time to talk.”

“Me, too,” Rose said.

“Best of luck, sweetie. I must say - it’s a dangerous life you’re choosing to live.”

“Worth it, though,” Rose said, pulling away. She turned to Mal. “Captain—thank you. Sorry about dropping in unannounced. Just sort of… happens.”

“Yeah,” Mal said, scratching his chin. “Next time, send us a wave first.”

Rose grinned and stood up on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek. He smirked at her and Inara rolled her eyes.

Rose turned to Simon and Kaylee, swinging her arms nervously. “Doctor Tam,” she said. “Always remember you as the man who saved my life.”

Simon flushed and Rose grinned, biting down on her bottom lip. “I—thank you,” Simon said.

“Do you two really gotta go?” Kaylee said. “We got quarters if you want to stay a while, don’t we, Captain? Been empty too long, anyway.”

Rose hesitated. She _wanted_ to, she did. She’d really like to get to know these people better. Leaving like this—she’d never get a chance to giggle late into the night with Kaylee and Inara, to try and get by the Captain’s defences.

She could convince the Doctor if she pushed him. But that wasn’t… him. Never had been.

“Can’t,” Rose said instead, wondering when she started to sound so much like him. Kaylee nodded in resignation, squeezing Simon’s hand.

Finally, Rose turned to River. The girl brushed her hair out of her face and then moved forward, grasping Rose’s face with both hands.

She smiled sadly. “He loves you,” River whispered, barely loud enough for Rose to hear. “He tries to say it, but it’s hard. He’s so afraid. He thinks you must know, but sometimes you’re not sure.” River drew in a sharp breath. “But he does. I’ve felt it.”

Rose stared at the girl, hardly daring to breathe. She had no idea how to respond. “Thank you,” she managed. She forced a clumsy smile.

River pulled away. Rose straightened her shirt, nervous energy making her palms feel sweaty.

“Well, I should probably…” she trailed off and moved towards the TARDIS. “Guess this is goodbye, then.”

Vision blurring, Rose opened the door and stepped inside, leaning back against it once she was through. Yes, she could understand why the Doctor never lingered on goodbyes.

The Doctor looked up hopefully when the door swung closed, hands already setting the console into motion. He beamed at her and then said, “I was _thinking_ , we might be able to fit in one quick trip to the past before we head back to the Powell Estates, what do you think? Just one trip? I’ll buy you dinner.”

Rose forced a laugh and pushed off the doors. River's words echoed through her mind, but she only said, “You? Buy dinner? Did you hit your head this morning?”

“Well,” he said, wounded. “Thought it might be nice. Just… you and me. Anyway.”

He turned back to the console, pulling down on a lever. Rose smiled at his sudden shyness.

She closed the distance between them, turning her head to watch him prod the TARDIS to life.

“Sounds nice,” she said.

He paused, one hand hovering over the console. “Yeah?”

“Yes,” she said. “Powell Estates can wait a few days, can’t it?”  



End file.
